Global Tuberculosis Deaths Declined in 2024: WHO Report

A doctor examines the X-rays of a tuberculosis patient at a TB clinic in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, on Nov. 27, 2002. According to the WHO, tuberculosis was the world’s leading infectious disease killer in 2023, surpassing COVID-19. Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesWorldwide deaths from tuberculosis (TB) decreased in 2024, along with the number of people newly diagnosed with the disease, according to a  WHO report released Wednesday.Last year, the number of people who were estimated to have been sickened by TB dropped to 10.7 million—representing the first drop since 2020—after reaching a record high of 10.8 million in 2023, according to the report.