The UK's top public health doctor says anyone with a persistent cough and fever should not dismiss it as Covid - and should consider other infectious illnesses like tuberculosis (TB).Dr Jenny Harries' warning comes as provisional data shows there were 4,430 cases recorded in England in 2021, despite sharp declines in recent years.
Charities are calling for more funding to tackle the disease around the world.They say the pandemic and conflicts have set back progress worldwide.In 2020, global deaths because of tuberculosis ranked second to Covid for any infectious disease.
Though sometimes life-threatening, the vast majority of TB cases can be treated successfully with six months of antibiotics.But incomplete or inadequate treatment can lead to the development of drug resistance - meaning the bug can no longer be killed effectively by one or more medicines. Other combinations of drugs are then tried.
Drug-resistant TB is a particular problem - with 11.6% of cases in England in 2020 recorded as resistant to any drug and 2.4% resistant to both of the most frequently-used antibiotics.
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