Post by Odysseus on Jun 24, 2020 23:25:52 GMT
The data regarding COVID-19 are changing daily (check the WHO Situational Dashboard for the latest figures), but the number of deaths due to COVID-19 is increasing daily. About 1.5 million people died from TB in 2018 and, of this total, over 250,000 were HIV positive. This relates to more than 4,000 deaths a day due to TB.
Mortality (death) rates determine the frequency of deaths in a specified population during a specified interval of time. With a novel disease like COVID-19, however, mortality rates are unreliable at this point in time due to a variety of factors. The COVID-19 mortality estimate may be unknown as we do not know exactly how many cases there are. This is due to underreporting and people with minimal or mild symptoms not being tested, and therefore not being factored into the total number of confirmed cases. This subsequently makes mortality estimates difficult. Some reports estimate mortality rates for COVID-19 anywhere from 1.5 to 20 percent, 20 percent being one of the highest estimates at the centre of the outbreak in Wuhan, China. In contrast, untreated TB has an average mortality rate of 45 percent. However, TB is not only preventable but treatable, and the global success rate reported by the WHO for those who started TB treatment in 2018 was 85 percent.
Thus, TB is technically deadlier than COVID-19, though one must consider the diseases themselves and other risk factors: age, HIV status, the quality of the body’s immune systems, etc. People with active, untreated TB are far more likely to die than even the highest projected mortality estimates for COVID-19, making it critical to address prevention and treatment options for TB. The advantage for TB is that we do have treatments that work, including for drug-resistant forms of TB. We also have treatments for the TB infection stage to prevent a person from becoming unwell with TB.
Mortality (death) rates determine the frequency of deaths in a specified population during a specified interval of time. With a novel disease like COVID-19, however, mortality rates are unreliable at this point in time due to a variety of factors. The COVID-19 mortality estimate may be unknown as we do not know exactly how many cases there are. This is due to underreporting and people with minimal or mild symptoms not being tested, and therefore not being factored into the total number of confirmed cases. This subsequently makes mortality estimates difficult. Some reports estimate mortality rates for COVID-19 anywhere from 1.5 to 20 percent, 20 percent being one of the highest estimates at the centre of the outbreak in Wuhan, China. In contrast, untreated TB has an average mortality rate of 45 percent. However, TB is not only preventable but treatable, and the global success rate reported by the WHO for those who started TB treatment in 2018 was 85 percent.
Thus, TB is technically deadlier than COVID-19, though one must consider the diseases themselves and other risk factors: age, HIV status, the quality of the body’s immune systems, etc. People with active, untreated TB are far more likely to die than even the highest projected mortality estimates for COVID-19, making it critical to address prevention and treatment options for TB. The advantage for TB is that we do have treatments that work, including for drug-resistant forms of TB. We also have treatments for the TB infection stage to prevent a person from becoming unwell with TB.
