In 2023, 8 million people will be infected with tuberculosis. According to the WHO, this is the highest number ever seen

LONDON – More than 8 million people have been diagnosed tuberculosis Last year, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, the highest number since the U.N. health agency began keeping track.

About 1.25 million people died from tuberculosis last year new report said, adding that tuberculosis has likely returned to being the world’s leading killer of infectious diseases after being replaced by COVID-19 during the pandemic. The deaths are almost double the number of people killed by HIV in 2023.

The WHO said tuberculosis mainly affects people in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Western Pacific; India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Pakistan account for more than half of the world’s cases.

“The fact that TB is still killing and sickening so many people is a shame, when we have the tools to prevent, detect and treat it,” WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

However, the number of deaths from tuberculosis continues to decline globally and the number of new infections is starting to stabilize. The agency noted that of the 400,000 people estimated to have drug-resistant tuberculosis last year, less than half were diagnosed and treated.

Tuberculosis is caused by airborne bacteria that mainly affect the lungs. It is estimated that about a quarter of the world’s population has tuberculosis, but only about 5 to 10% of those develop symptoms.

Advocacy groups including Doctors Without Borders have long called on US company Cepheid, which produces TB tests used in poorer countries, to make them available for $5 per test to increase availability. Earlier this month, Doctors Without Borders and 150 global healthcare partners sent Cepheid a message open letter calling on them to “prioritize people’s lives” and urgently help make tuberculosis testing more widespread worldwide.

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