Spread of TB in Taiwan stable amid global resurgence: CDC

Taipei, Oct. 30 (CNA) The spread of tuberculosis (TB) in Taiwan remains under control despite its resurgence worldwide, according to the Health Ministry's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Wednesday.

The World Health Organization on Tuesday (U.S. time) released a report showing that TB has been the world's deadliest infectious disease since 2023, surpassing COVID-19.

Around 8.2 million people were newly diagnosed with TB in 2023, which is higher than 7.5 million in 2022 and also marks the highest number since the WHO began monitoring the disease in 1995, the organization said.

CDC Deputy Director-General Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) said that this may be a result of lockdowns and depleted medical resources during the COVID-19 pandemic, conditions that led to many patients being unable to receive proper follow-up care and treatment.

Furthermore, the pandemic also made it difficult for medical systems to keep up with screening for TB, especially in countries lacking relevant resources, resulting in TB infections getting out of control, Lo added.

Taiwan did not experience many of these abnormal medical circumstances, Lo said.

Although TB screening dropped in Taiwan when the COVID-19 epidemic was rising domestically, that only happened for short periods of time in 2021 and 2022, Lo said, adding that screening rebounded noticeably in 2023.

The WHO aims to end the global TB epidemic by 2030, a goal defined by less than 10 cases for every 100,000 people, Lo said.

There are currently 28.2 cases per 100,000 people in Taiwan, indicating that more effort is needed to find infected people in the incubation period, he added.

The CDC will target high-risk groups such as care institution residents, groups with compromised immunity and residents of rural areas for increased screening, in order to find and treat infected people earlier and prevent further spread, Lo said.

Taiwan has about 700 overseas TB cases each year, making up about 10 percent of the total, so efforts will continue to focus on controlling domestic spread of the disease, Lo said.

However, as neighboring countries are seeing higher rates of multiple drug resistance in TB cases, the CDC will watch the trends closely and take a raft of measures such as maintaining health inspections for migrant workers when they enter the country and periodic health check-ups, Lo added.