TB overtakes COVID as world’s deadliest infectious disease

Tuberculosis is once again the world’s leading cause of death from infectious disease, overtaking COVID-19 after three years.

Around 1.25 million people died from TB in 2023, according to the World Health Organization. Death rates had declined for years until 2021 but have begun creeping back up again, and efforts to control its spread are well behind the WHO’s targets.

The bacterial disease, which can cause chest pains and lung bleeding, is most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. It is treatable with antibiotics, although antibiotic-resistant strains are on the rise, and people with HIV — of whom there are many millions in Africa — are at especially high risk.