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| LETTER TO EDITOR |
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| Year : 2023 | Volume
: 4
| Issue : 1 | Page : 42 |
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Impact of COVID-19 on tuberculosis spectrum
Prerna Sharma1, Shatrughan Pareek2, Gopal Singh3
1 Department of Pediatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, GTB College of Nursing, GTB Nagar, Delhi, India
2 Department of Medicine, Nursing Superintendent, Railway Health Services, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India
3 Department of Pediatric Nursing, Associate Professor, SGRD University of Health Sciences, Amritsar, Punjab, India
| Date of Submission | 16-Jul-2022 |
| Date of Decision | 31-Aug-2022 |
| Date of Acceptance | 23-Oct-2022 |
| Date of Web Publication | 04-Jan-2023 |
Correspondence Address:
Mr. Shatrughan Pareek
North Western Railway Hospital, Bikaner - 334 001, Rajasthan
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
DOI: 10.4103/jopcs.jopcs_20_22
How to cite this article:
Sharma P, Pareek S, Singh G. Impact of COVID-19 on tuberculosis spectrum. J Prim Care Spec 2023;4:42 |
In the modern world, a COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented event affecting humankind mercilessly on all the land masses of our planet. It thus has brought a continental shift in human lifestyle.[1] As with the development in medical experts, treatment facilities, and vaccinations, tuberculosis (TB) was considered a manageable disease initially, but with the rise in a case seen in 2019, i.e., nearly 10 million people developed TB across the globe thus TB continues to pose a threat to the world.[2] The association and effect of COVID-19 and TB on each other are not clearly understood, there are many comparabilities and contrasts between the two diseases. Few early studies have advised that infection of TB may hike the susceptibility and increases COVID-19 criticalness; therefore, some extended studies are needed. [3,4] Both cause major infection-related severe illness and mortality.During the last 6 months, 500 thousand deceased due to the pandemic whereas globally, 1.2 million deaths have been reported because of TB in 2018.[5] The numbers of new cases at the global level of TB were around 10 million, but COVID-19 cases have already crossed that figure within 6 months of its origin. Routine services for TB are being disrupted by stringent lockdowns against the pandemic.[6] Minor alternations may affect long-term enhancement in TB cases and fatality. A recent study highlighted that 3-month adjournment of TB services and 10 months to reinstitute to routine services, would affect a further 1.19 million TB cases and 0.36 million mortality in the next 5 years.[7] The pandemic has a huge impact on TB care and management which may affect the existing disease control process. The issues associated with lockdown may endure TB encumbrance. The negative effects can be reduced by the quick reestablishment of TB facilities. In addition, some positive and specific initiatives are required to regain TB services at the global level.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| References | |  |
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