The absence of cough in most patients with a dangerous infection and its almost hidden course explains why, despite enormous efforts to diagnose and treat this disease, the burden of tuberculosis (TB) in Africa and Asia is almost not decreasing, writes lenta.ru.

Cough is the starting point for making a diagnosis, however, if it is absent, the diagnosis is likely to be made later, when the infection may have already spread to other people.

The study analyzed the results of national monitoring in 12 countries and found that, in addition to the absence of cough, more than a quarter of tuberculosis patients had no symptoms at all, and both of these traits are more common in women than in men. A quarter of those who did not have a cough had a large number of bacteria in their sputum and were probably very contagious.

According to the authors, in order to prevent the spread of tuberculosis, it is necessary to focus on X-ray screening and the development of new inexpensive and easy-to-use tests.