The number of cases of tuberculosis in the population has returned to pre-pandemic levels, said Liga Kuksa, head of the Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases Department at the TPSC hospital, in an interview on the Latvian Television.
Overall, however, the number of TBC cases has fallen sharply in recent decades. The number of cases detected in Latvia and elsewhere in the world also fell during the Covid-19 pandemic, but is now back to pre-pandemic levels.
As for the ways in which people can get tuberculosis, Kuksa pointed out that it can be contracted in different places, but that the most common way of contracting tuberculosis is indoors, by inhaling the bacteria that causes the disease. At the same time, not everyone who has inhaled the bacteria will get the disease, as a person’s immunity plays an important role.
To mark World TB Day on 24 March, doctors at Riga East Clinical University Hospital (RAKUS) are this week inviting anyone who, for example, has not had a cough for more than three weeks or is feeling very tired and weak to come and get a free consultation from a lung specialist and/or to be tested for tuberculosis.
Compared to previous years, the incidence of tuberculosis in Latvia also increased in 2023. Preliminary data show that 347 cases of tuberculosis were be registered in 2023, or 18.4 per 100,000 population. Compared to 2022, the increase is 8 percent, while compared to 2021, the increase is 33 percent.
Source: BNS
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