Tuberculosis, not AIDS, is the leading cause of death: WHO

A new World Health Organization (WHO) report revealed that more people are now dying from tuberculosis (TB) infections than from HIV or AIDS.

WHO tweeted that 1.5 million people worldwide died from TB in 2014. They were comprised of 890,000 men, 480,000 women, and 140,000 children.

Of these fatalities, 400,000 were infected with both TB and HIV. The figures are 300,000 higher than those who died from HIV or AIDS during the same period.

WHO noted that 54 percent, or more than half of the world's TB cases, came from China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan.

Reuters shared the statistics reflect the excellent progress in HIV and AIDS treatments within the past decade. On the other hand, it is a sober reminder that TB research has not been given adequate support in recent years.

"The good news is that TB intervention has saved some 43 million lives since 2000," Dr. Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO TB program, said. But as most TB cases can be easily treated, he divulged that the current mortality rate is alarmingly high. The disease, therefore, remains one of the world's biggest health threats.

The WHO report covered TB data from 205 countries and territories, which included information on its drug-resistant forms, research and development, and financing. It revealed that 6 million TB cases were reported in 2014, lower than 9.6 million people estimated to have actually developed the disease. Of the projected 480,000 cases of multidrug resistant TB, only one in 4 cases, or a quarter, were detected and reported.

Multi-drug resistant TB is a form of the disease which resists the two most powerful anti-TB medicines.

The report "should serve as a wake-up call that enormous work still needs to be done to reduce the burden of this ancient, yet curable disease," Dr. Grania Brigden, interim medical director of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, said.

One of the areas for concern is the funding differences between TB and HIV and AIDS. International funding for HIV/AIDS is 10 times higher than for TB. Approximately $8 million is spent on HIV and AIDS interventions, compared with a total of $800,000 spent on TB. An additional $1.4 billion is still needed to support TB intervention efforts this year.

Ultimately, WHO aims to reduce TB incidence by 80 percent, TB deaths by 90 percent and significantly reduce the costs of TB-affected households by 2030.

MSF explains how the body reacts to TB in this video.