Tuberculosis infection numbers are inching up, and the World Health Organization has identified Central Asia and the Caucasus as hot spots.

A WHO report on TB in the Europe and Central Asia region, published March 24, shows that formerly Soviet states – Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan – had the highest overall numbers of “incident TB cases” among all the countries surveyed. 

The report also showed that incidence rates, or TB numbers relative to overall population, was highest in Kyrgyzstan, with 112 cases per 100,000 population. Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan also had comparatively high rates. All Central Asian states were deemed “high-priority countries,” defined as having TB incidence rates of 46 per 100,000 or higher. The WHO drew on data from 2023 to compile the report. 

The three states in the Caucasus – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia – were also listed among high-priority countries in the WHO report. However, Armenia’s TB incidence rate (25 per 100,000) was below the established threshold.

“The current TB burden and the worrying rise in children with TB serves as a reminder that progress against this preventable and curable disease remains fragile,” WHO’s Europe director, Hans Kluge, said in a written statement. 

TB infections experienced a steady decline globally from 2010-20, but since the Covid pandemic, the disease has made a slow comeback, according to WHO figures.

Kluge indicated that the drastic cutbacks made by the United States in foreign assistance for public health programs will likely make it tougher for individual governments and international organizations to reverse existing TB trends. “TB transmission may go unnoticed, further fueling the rise in hard-to-treat strains,” Kluge said.