‘No Evidence To Link TB With Coronavirus’: Health Ministry

New Delhi: There has been a decline in the cases of corona infection across the country, but cases of infection are continuously coming to the fore. The Union Health Ministry denied reports of a sudden increase in the number of TB cases in Covid-19 infected patients. 

The Union Health Ministry says that cases of corona infection and TB should not be linked or combined. So far, no concrete evidence of any kind has been found that connects Corona to the TB. The government says that both diseases are contagious and mainly attack the lungs. However, they cannot be linked to each other. 

A few days back, reports claimed that doctors of Madhya Pradesh found an increase in the number of TB patients who were infected with Covid. At the same time, after the Union Health Ministry refuted reports of a connection between corona infection and TB, the government said, “due to the restrictions related to Covid-19 in the year 2020, about 25 percent of TB case notification in India has decreased.

However, the ministry says that in cases related to post-Covid infection, due to weak immunity, the TB virus can infect a person recovering from Covid. The Ministry of Health says that ‘TB bacilli’ can exist in humans in an inactive state and can spread very rapidly when a person’s immunity is weakened.

According to the ministry, even though there is no risk of TB infection due to corona, the weakened immune system of a patient who has recovered after Covid cannot fight the TB virus completely, and individuals may contract TB. The ministry said that, in early August 2020, several advisories were issued among Covid-19 patients regarding TB testing.