ENGLAND — A new study published in the journal Thorax revealed that one person per week in England dies with undiagnosed and untreated tuberculosis. The study indicates missed opportunities for earlier detection and treatment of the disease.

Those identified as most likely to have received a TB diagnosis only after death included British-born, older men. The study also found a higher likelihood of postmortem TB diagnoses in individuals living outside London and those with a history of drug or alcohol misuse. Additionally, children under the age of four were at an increased risk of postmortem TB diagnosis.

Tuberculosis rates in England stood at 9.4 cases per 100,000 people in 2024. This figure places England below the World Health Organization's "low incidence country" threshold of 10 cases per 100,000. Most TB cases diagnosed in England affect individuals born outside the UK, with their average age of diagnosis being 36.

"As TB rates continue to rise, we need to keep asking: 'Could this be TB?', even in people who do not fit the usual risk profiles," said Dr. Eleanor Morgan, a resident doctor at Liverpool University hospitals NHS foundation trust. "If England is to eliminate TB, reducing delays in diagnosis will be essential so that fewer people miss the opportunity to receive effective treatment."

Globally, an estimated 10.7 million people fell ill with tuberculosis in 2024, and the disease caused 1.23 million deaths during the same year. Tuberculosis is treatable using special antibiotics. Dr. Tom Wingfield, a senior author of the paper, stated that TB is preventable, treatable and curable.

Limitations in the data prevented researchers from determining if individuals died with TB from other causes or if TB was the direct cause of death. However, Dr. Paul Cleary, a consultant epidemiologist at the UK Health Security Agency, said either case might "represent missed opportunities to identify and treat the disease earlier, as well as to prevent possible transmission to others".