
Nearly 7,000 excess tuberculosis (TB) deaths occurred in Europe in 2021 and 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report today from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
WHO and ECDC officials attribute the excess TB deaths that occurred in the WHO European Region from 2020 through 2022 to pandemic-related disruptions to TB services, which resulted in more people with undiagnosed and untreated TB. Had the pandemic not occurred, they said, TB mortality likely would have continued on the downward trend that began in 2013.
The overall TB death rate in the region fell overall 53% from 2013 through 2022, with an average decline of 8% per year, but it increased in 2021 and remained stable in 2022.
"Our latest report reveals a heart-breaking, entirely preventable situation—people affected by TB were not protected during the pandemic and 7,000 needlessly lost their lives because of disruptions to TB services," Hans Henri Kluge, MD, MPH, director of the WHO's European regional office, said in an ECDC press release.
Drug-resistant TB, low cure rates
The report also shows that while rifampicin-resistant/multidrug-resistant (RR/MDR)-TB cases fell by 6% from 2021 to 2022, the proportion of RR/MDR-TB among new (24%) and previously treated (54%) TB cases in the region exceeds the global average (3.3% and 17%, respectively).
In addition, on average of only 6 out of 10 and 7 out of 10 TB treatments using first-line medications cured the infection in European Union/European Economic Area and WHO European Region countries, respectively—the lowest rates observed in a decade and a possible sign of issues with treatment compliance and monitoring.
On a positive note, the more than 170,000 TB cases reported in the region in 2022 represented a 3.1% increase in the number of notified TB patients compared with 2021, a second year of recovery following a 24% drop in TB notifications in 2020. WHO and ECDC officials say this indicates TB services are recovering from the pandemic.
The officials say countries need to strengthen TB prevention, testing, and treatment services to get back on track.