Covid masks may end up eliminating TB by 2025 | Economic Times

MUMBAI: The simple face mask — mandatory in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic — may just help India’s fight against one of the oldest pestilence: tuberculosis. “If masks become routine in India, just like they are in Japan, then we could well meet our target of eliminating TB by 2025,” said pulmonologist Dr Sanjeev Mehta.The World Health Organisation has set a deadline of 2030 to eliminate TB, but the Indian government announced an earlier deadline of 2025. As India is home to 25% of all TB patients in the world, public health experts felt the 2025 deadline was ambitious. “But if we continue using masks and remember to follow cough etiquette, the deadline no longer seems ambitious,” added Dr Mehta.TB has been one of the most discussed topics during the pandemic because of the “protection” provided by the TB vaccine (BCG) against the novel coronavirus. TB patients, though, have suffered due to lack of medicines and the difficulty in travelling to treatment centres during the lockdown. TB detection rates dropped in the early phase of Covid in March, but health officials said the services are now inching back to normalcy.A private sector doctor said there are fewer new cases because of the lower risk of transmission. “People are staying home or moving out with masks, resulting in a lower risk of transmission. Moreover, families are now likely to pay attention to a cough that lasts more than two weeks and seek tests and scans that will detect TB early,” he said.A senior Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation official associated with the TB programme refused to comment on Covid’s impact on TB detection and treatment. The official said that as both the diseases spread via droplets, the use of masks should benefit the TB drive as well. “But we haven’t had time to study Covid’s impact on TB,” the official added.Compared to the Covid-spreading coronavirus, the tuberculosis mycobacterium is big. “The TB bacillus spreads through droplet released when a person coughs or sneezes. The microbe travels at the speed of a Ferrari across the room, but even a handkerchief (as against face masks that have tinier pores and have two- to three-ply material) can stop it instantly,” said Dr Lalit Anande, medical supervisor of a BMC-run TB hospital. 77773738