ERA4TB accelerates the development of new treatment regimens for tuberculosis.

The general public is well aware of the tragic impact of the COVID-19 on the community in terms of lives, disruption of livelihoods and social distress. Far less obvious are the indirect effects that the outbreak exert on other major diseases of global incidence like tuberculosis. To contain the spread of the COVID-19, most countries have imposed strict lockdown measures that, however necessary, are negatively affecting the programs to eradicate tuberculosis at global level by hindering TB diagnosis, notifications and likely shortening the provision of drugs against the infection.

The Stop-TB Partnership has been working on a series of models to estimate the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on the progress of TB at global scale. These models focus on three countries with a high burden of TB and distinct social settings that constitute paradigmatic cases within the spectrum of countries in which TB has a high incidence. In the worst-case scenario, the modelers estimated that a 3-month lockdown followed by a 10-month period to return to normality could lead to an additional 6.3 million cases of TB between 2020 and 2025, and an additional 1.4 million TB deaths during this time at global level. With these figures, the gains made in the fight against TB in the last five to eight years could be lost out. The study stresses that recovering the progress made in the last years will only be possible through increasing the efforts and investments in TB.

ERA4TB stands in solidarity with the additional difficulties that the present situation imposes on patients and professionals involved in treating TB. ERA4TB is committed with the development of new drugs of easy administration and effectivity against resistant strains, the consortium hopes to help mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak on the battle against TB.