World's deadliest bug' that's transmitted by breathing is spreading

13 March 2024 , 11:51

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A symptom of TB was previously thought to include a cough (Image: Getty Images)

The world's deadliest bug' that is transmitted by breathing is spreading with a rise in cases - with researchers warning that catching the disease might be easier than we imagined.

Scientists in the Netherlands now reckon those with no signs of the disease can pass it on. Tuberculosis (TB) germs were believed to be transmitted by coughing, laughing sneezing or even speaking or singing. But a new study has discovered four in five people don't suffer from a cough which was once thought to be a symptom of TB.

And even those without a cough carry the killer bug in their saliva which can be distributed into the air by talking or breathing. It means people can pick up the infection by breathing near someone who is infected but is not showing any obvious signs of disease.

How a tuberculosis infection looks in a chest X-ray (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Professor Frank Cobelens, study author, of Global Health at Amsterdam University Medical Center said in The Lancet: "A persistent cough is often the entry point for a diagnosis, But if 80 per cent of those with TB don't have one, then it means that a diagnosis will happen later, possibly after the infection has already been transmitted to many others, or not at all."

The research was published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, and took the data of more than 600,000 people in a dozen countries across Africa and Asia which included people with TB. Around 82.8% of those with the disease had no persistent cough and 62.5% had none at all. Those without the cough had of dangerous bacteria in their saliva and were 'probably highly infectious'.

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The research was published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases (Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF)

Professor Cobelens now wants health professionals to look at new means of diagnosis to avoid cases being missed. The Sun reports he said: "When we take all of these factors into account, it becomes clear that we need to really rethink large aspects of how we identify people with TB. It's clear that current practice, especially in the most resource-poor settings, will miss large numbers of patients with TB."

The UK Health Security Agency says cases of the Victorian disease have risen from 4,380 in 2022 to 4,850 in 2023. This has sparked a scramble to discover why there has been a rise in infections. Those at a higher risk of catching the illness, with other health conditions, have been warned to look out for a persistent cough and fever and warned not to dismiss their symptoms as a cold.

Cases of the Victorian disease have risen from 4,380 in 2022 to 4,850 in 2023 (Getty Images)

Around the world, 7.5million people were diagnosed with TB in 2022, which health experts say is the highest number ever recorded. The World Health Organisation (WHO) previously blamed a reduction in diagnosis on Covid lockdowns. Another report, meanwhile has found drug-resistant TB had risen by 3% between 2020 and 2021.

Graeme Murray