Masks for Covid-19 may end up eliminating tuberculosis by 2025

The face mask might serve a dual purpose if it becomes a mandatory part of the lives of Indians post-pandemic. According to reports, it not only curbs the spread of the coronavirus but could also fight a prominent disease that thousands lose their life to every year - 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 in a report by The Times of India.

India had set a deadline to eliminate tuberculosis by 2025, five years before the World Health Organisation's target of 2030. The government’s announcement seemed ambitious as India reports 25 per cent of the world’s tuberculosis cases. However, after the outbreak of the coronavirus and the safety protocol implemented to curb the spread of Covid-19, the elimination of TB does not seem unachievable.

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“If we continue using masks and remember to follow cough etiquette, the deadline no longer seems ambitious,” Dr Mehta added.

A private-sector doctor said fewer new cases of tuberculosis were reported due to a 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 last more than two weeks and seek test and scans that will detect TB early,” he said, according to the report.

One of the reasons reported for higher resistance to the coronavirus was attributed to a dosage of the BCG vaccine in India. tuberculosis detection rates dropped in March, but health officials said the services are slowly going back to normal.

“The TB bacillus spreads through droplet released when a person coughs or sneezes. The microbe travels at the speed of Ferrari across a 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, a medical supervisor of the BMC-run tuberculosis hospital in Sewri, Mumbai.