Live Science: Tuberculosis Needs More Recognition As a Worldwide Health Threat
Deliana Garcia director of international relations, research, and development for the Migrant Clinicians Network

“…Here are four reasons TB should hold the No. 1 spot on the WHO’s [priority pathogens] list: 1. TB is the No. 1 infectious-disease killer on the planet, surpassing HIV/AIDS. … 2. It’s inexpensive to cure TB. Yet, we can’t manage to stamp it out. … 3. Drug-resistant TB is on the rise, and it’s deadly. 4. Doctors continue to rely on 110-year-old skin tests to diagnose TB, because funding dedicated to finding easier, quicker, and cheaper methods has stagnated. … TB should already be wiped off the planet, but we lack the political will and funding focus to deliver it a death blow. Instead, public health officials continue to make major missteps, like leaving it off of the WHO list of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, when it should be center stage. … Leaving TB off this list makes it appear that it is less critical than the other bacteria listed — and gives the dangerous impression that TB is under control. We urge the WHO to include drug-resistant TB on its list, because new lines of defense are urgently needed to head off this surge of drug-resistant TB” (3/31).