Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tuberculosis services

COVID-19 effect on tuberculosis care in Sierra Leone: Are we in the recovery phase?

“…This has important consequences because if true, we may contain the previously missed TB diagnoses that otherwise can lead to an additional increase of cases in the community and we may lose decades of progress in TB control programs. A similar trend of recovery of outpatient TB services has also been reported by Rodrigues and colleagues in Portugal ( 9 ), which reported that TB diagnosis, treatment, and prevention services were only affected during the 1st State of Emergency. However, as Covid-19 cases still keep rising across the globe, given the possible interactions of TB and Covid-19 (reactivation or worsening of TB during SARS-CoV-2 infection, use of steroids during Covid-19) ( 10 ), it is of primary importance to further reinforce TB preventive programs globally.…”

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Tuberculosis Preventive Services and Their Post-Pandemic Recovery Strategies: A Rapid Review of Literature

“… 25 On the other hand, there was one study where maintenance of TB health services resulted in minimal disruption of LTBI treatment and screening. 26 On the other hand, articles revealed that there was an increase in the proportion of LTBI among TB contacts during the pandemic, which ranged from 5.9% to 14.3% difference. 27 28 This trend was more prominent in children as observed through a much higher percentage of LTBI and active TB among children who were household contacts in 2020 compared to 2019 (57.7% vs. 5.3%) 29 and less than 30% of TB preventive treatment rate among children under the age of 5 years.…”

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on in-hospital diagnosis of tuberculosis in non-HIV patients

“…In the pandemic setting there was: (i) a clear increase in extended pulmonary forms, (ii) a significant rise of disseminated tuberculosis cases in immunocompetent patients and (iii) a tendency to find a greater proportion of numerous bacilli on smears, indicating that people might have tolerated longer symptomatic periods before seeking medical aid, as they were reluctant to go to the hospital, leading to diagnostic delay and to an increased risk of TB transmission in households and communities. Rodrigues et al reached the same conclusion, finding delays in the diagnosis of tuberculosis in the outpatient tuberculosis centres (OTBC), even though they had been open during the pandemic 7 . In our population, COVID-19 did not impact in a rise of drug-resistant cases or higher mortality, but more data are needed in the following years.…”