WHO : Tuberculosis deaths down

Fewer people are dying from tuberculosis and fewer people are falling ill, dpa quoted the World Health Organization (WHO) as saying Tuesday. "For the first time we are reporting that the number of people falling ill with tuberculosis each year is declining," Mario Raviglione, director of WHO's effort to stop tuberculosis, said in Washington. "Also the number of people dying from TB fell to its lowest level in a decade." Global deaths dropped to 1.4 million in 2010 from 1.8 million in 2003, according to WHO's report. The number of new cases slipped to 8.8 million in 2010 from 9 million in 2005. "The TB death rate dropped 40 per cent between 1990 and 2010, and the world is therefore on track to achieve the 50-per-cent decline in TB mortality that is our international target for 2015," Raviglione said. Tuberculosis, which usually strike the lungs, is spread by coughing or other contact from infected people. It can be cured with antibiotics, but drug-resistant strains have complicated treatment for some patients.