Tackling two pandemics: a plea on World Tuberculosis Day
Tom Wingfield
Luis E Cuevas
Peter MacPherson
Kerry A Millington
S Bertel Squire
Published:March 24, 2020DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30151-X
We are facing an unprecedented pandemic. A quarter of the world's population is infected and, between 2020 and 2021, it is predicted that 10 million people will have fallen ill, 3 million will not have been diagnosed or received care, and more than 1 million—mainly the most vulnerable—will have died.1 This pandemic is not COVID-19 but tuberculosis. On World Tuberculosis Day, it is worth comparing the COVID-19 and tuberculosis pandemics to ensure that, while we focus on the former, we do not forget the latter.