Global Control of Tuberculosis: Current Status and Future Prospects

Abstract

Tuberculosis is a zoonotic disease that is caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and can infect humans, livestock, and wildlife. It spreads primarily through the respiratory tract and was the leading cause of death due to a single infectious disease before the COVID-19 pandemic. TB is a global public health emergency that has reemerged over the past few decades. Substantial efforts are needed to achieve the goals of the End TB Strategy. The World Health Organization has estimated that approximately 9.9 million people worldwide contracted TB in 2020 and that approximately 140,000 of the 10 million new cases of active TB in 2019 were zoonotic TB. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of new TB diagnoses and reports decreased sharply, from 7.1 million in 2019 to 5.8 million in 2020, returning to 2012 levels far below the approximately 10 million TB cases in 2020. Simultaneously, the global decrease in the absolute number of TB deaths until 2019 was followed by an increase in 2020 in four of the six WHO regions and most of the 30 high-TB-burden countries. Therefore, extensive immediate actions worldwide are required to restore the health system, and innovations are needed to accelerate progress toward a tuberculosis-free world.

Prediction of Th1 and Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Epitopes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Evaluation of Their Potential in the Diagnosis of Tuberculosis in a Mouse Model and in Humans

“…According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 2021 Global Tuberculosis Report, there were 10 million new TB cases and 1.3 million deaths worldwide in 2020 ( 1 ). Previous studies have shown that about one-third of the world’s population has been infected with TB, but only 10% develop active TB, meaning that nearly 90% of people experience latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) ( 2 , 3 ). LTBI is a particular state in which an individual is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis that has not yet developed to active TB (ATB), characterized by a positive tuberculin skin test (TST) without clinical manifestations and imaging changes of ATB.…”

CRISPR-Based Diagnostics: A Potential Tool to Address the Diagnostic Challenges of Tuberculosis

“…It is also the second leading cause of death (only behind COVID-19) among infectious diseases, with mortality nearly double that of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) [ 2 ], with the first year-over-year increase in 2020 despite years of effort to end TB. The difficulty associated with TB diagnosis is believed to be one of the major obstacles to successful prevention and control of the disease [ 3 ]. In 2020, 41.4% to 47.3% of cases failed to be diagnosed and reported [ 2 ].…”

Advances in the application of proteomics in lung cancer

“…Although the incidence and mortality of lung cancer have decreased significantly in the past decade, it is still one of the leading causes of death, which greatly impairs people’s life and health ( 1 ). Every year, there is about 2.2 million new cases and 1.79 million deaths according to conservative estimation ( 2 , 3 ). Lung cancer can be divided into two main types, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC), among which NSCLC is the major one ( 4 ).…”