Title:COVID-19 and Tuberculosis: Two Knives in a Sheath
Volume: 3
Issue: 5
Author(s): Kishore Kumar Meenakshi Sundaram, Attuluri Vamsi Kumar, Thomas Alphonsa, Sangeetha Rajendran, Krishnamurthy Rajamanickam, Alemtoshi, Vellingiri Balachandar, Pranjal Bharali, Bupesh Giridharan*Konda Mani Saravanan*
Affiliation:
- Natural Products and Its Compound
Research Laboratory, Department of Forest Science, Nagaland University (Central), Nagaland – 798627, India
- Department of Biotechnology, Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai – 600073, Tamilnadu,
India
Keywords:
COVID-19, tuberculosis, coinfection, pandemic, cytokines, vaccines, microbial infections.
Abstract: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2) has caused a global human
outbreak, making it a more serious threat to human health than any other infectious disease. Coronavirus
infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) has severely affected the lifestyles of people around the world and
caused high mortality throughout the world. In both pandemic and seasonal influenza, co-infection of
COVID-19 with other diseases has been linked to worse outcomes. The literature revealed that it is characteristically
associated with comorbidities such as hypertension, blood pressure, obesity, cardiovascular
diseases, and other microbial infections. Furthermore, microbial coinfections worsen respiratory viral
infections and are a common cause of death in influenza pandemics. Deplorably, Tuberculosis (TB) is
also a dreadful lung infection and attains cytokine equilibrium with host cells to maintain the latent stage.
Studies showed that human coronaviruses (hCoV) activate latent TB to an active state due to unregulated
cytokine production, called a cytokine storm. The present review concisely discusses the reason and status
of co-infection of COVID-19 with TB based on previous case reports, cohorts, and scientific studies.
COVID-19 patients are prone to be infected with TB and vice-versa in TB-prone areas. The therapeutic
opportunities for overcoming the COVID-19 induced cytokine storm have also been emphasized by the
present clinical trial candidates. In conclusion, we recommend categorizing the patients based on their
medical history and cured or latent TB patients should be particularly closely monitored. They should be
tested for Interferon Gamma Release Assay (IGRA) regularly on and after COVID-19 infection.
