After a pandemic coronavirus experts predict worsening of the situation with many diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular. But a particular concern is tuberculosis. Due to the mass treatment of the patients with coronavirus antibiotics will increase the number of TB cases with multidrug resistance.
“We have seen a 60% reduction in rates of diagnosis of tuberculosis, leading to late start of treatment and higher mortality rates” – also said in a briefing for Russian journalists the Director of the European regional Bureau of who, Dr Hans Kluge.
Director of the Global program of the who tuberculosis control, Dr. Teresa Kasaeva said that, despite the pandemic, tuberculosis is currently an infectious disease is the number one in the number of deaths. Just today there are 10 million cases; annually die of tuberculosis one and a half million people. Two years ago, he was among the 10 leading causes of death worldwide. This disease has been dead for 250 thousand children. What can we say about the economic consequences that causes this infection the economies of many countries.
“There are concerns to believe that after the pandemic the number of deaths and cases can age. We conducted a simulation of the epidemiological situation: if the tendencies which provoked the pandemic continues, there are indicators of the detection of the disease in the near future will continue to decline over the next three months, we get more than 7 thousand additional deaths in the European region. At the moment in the region the mortality rate is 3 thousand people per month. Monthly incidence of 160 thousand people,” says Teresa Kasaeva.
the Number of causative agents of tuberculosis, against which modern medicine is powerless are rising, and so satisfactory situation in the field of tuberculosis early to say. By the way, of the 30 countries in the who European region, in 9 countries the alarming situation with tuberculosis who received multiple-drug resistance (MDR-TB), in other words, which is virtually untreatable. “The treatment of such patients should preferably be conducted in unsteady conditions, but it is now becoming critical. Moreover, both diseases, and tuberculosis, and the coronavirus, affect the lungs. The only difference is that the development of severe forms of tuberculosis can be prevented”, says Teresa Kasaeva.
Meanwhile, doctors Covidien who spoke with observer “MK” says that it is not always certain that patients with viral pneumonia do not suffer a “disease of Chekhov”, and the massive use of antibiotics of all kinds, which many months tried to treat COVID today when��eat to a significant increase in the number of tuberculosis with drug-resistant mnozhestvennaya.
Kiev Dr. Margaret Marchuk, working in the “red zone”, says that the antibiotics that the doctors are giving seriously ill patients with COVID-19 sometimes out of desperation (well, what else can you do if the patient has that day’s high temperature?) form catastrophically resistant (resistant) bacteria: “There is a substantial number of patients when we suspect that they may be a picture of tuberculosis. But we have to give medicines, use of which is fraught with the development of multi-drug resistant mycobacteria, which have no win.”
the who recommends that countries pay attention to this situation. “This problem largely depends on the quality of the early diagnosis of tuberculosis and early treatment. Unfortunately, scientists still do not see the ways and possibilities of overcoming drug resistance of mycobacteria,” says immunologist Catherine Koroteeva.
This means that after the pandemic, we quite possibly expect a powerful wave of consumption that defy modern medicine. It remains to add that in at risk for the development of the disease includes not only people with “social bottom” and chronic alcoholics, but women in the postpartum period, doctors, cancer patients, patients with mental illness, chronic lung disease (including smokers), and diabetes mellitus.
