Features of tuberculosis in a COVID-19 pandemic

Objective — to assess the prospects for the effects of the interaction between COVID-19 and tuberculosis and to strategize for the risks of tuberculosis infection in a coronavirus pandemic.Materials and methods. Test access to such full-text and abstract databases was used: single information base package EBSCO; the world’s largest single abstract database and scientometric platform Scopus; free search engine Google Scholar; MEDLINE with Full Text; MEDLINE Complete; Dyna Med Plus; EBSCO eBooks Clinical Collection; abstract scientometric database of scientific publications of the project Web of Know ledge companies Thomson Reuters —Web of Science Core Collection WoS (CC); (SCIE (Science Citation Index Expanded); SSCI (Social Science Citation Index); AHCI (Artand Humanities Citation Index).Results and discussion. An analysis of the available literature has shown that worldwide 3-month lockdown and long-term 10-month recovery could lead to an additional 6.3 million TB cases between 2020 and 2025 and another 1.4 million TB deaths during that period. time. On average, the detection of tuberculosis in Ukraine decreased by 27.4 %, and the incidence of tuberculosis among children decreased by 34.5 %. This is an alarming figure because we know very well that within six months the number of patients with tuberculosis has decreased, they simply stopped being detected. In addition, COVID-19 may accelerate the activation of latent tuberculosis infection and thus increase the number of active cases.Conclusions. The epidemiological indicators for tuberculosis control are expected to deteriorate for at least the next 5-8 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.