Experts have found that more than 80% of people in Asia and Africa who have culture-confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) don’t have persistent coughs – one of the symptoms most commonly associated with the disease – while more than 60% have no cough at all.
The international study, which aimed to explore the prevalence of subclinical pulmonary TB, also found that not only did most TB patients in 12 high-burden countries did not have a cough, more than a quarter had no other symptoms associated with the disease.
The lack of a persistent cough is significant because it’s one of the primary symptoms that triggers the diagnostic process for TB in HIV-negative patients, reports CIDRAP.
That means patients not reporting a persistent cough could face delays in diagnosis and treatment of a disease that killed 1.3m people in 2022. TB is the second-leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, after Covid-19. …..more
