There are warnings of a dangerous tuberculosis (TB) surge after USAID cuts. Dangerous new forms of TB could emerge as a result of USAID cuts.
Dr Lucica Ditiu, who runs the Stop TB Partnership, said she feared that interruptions to people’s treatment would allow the airborne bug to mutate into a new, untreatable form.
Moreover, a lack of diagnostic services, which have also been badly affected by the Trump administration’s aid cuts, would allow TB to spread more easily, she said.
For weeks, the government’s authorities on global health have warned Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other leaders about the death toll if they carried out the Trump administration’s plan to end nearly all U.S. foreign aid around the world. Top officials have estimated the casualties: One million children will not be treated for severe malnutrition. Up to 166,000 people will die from malaria. New cases of tuberculosis will go up by 30%. Two hundred thousand more children will be paralyzed by polio over the next decade.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/10/us-aid-cuts-tuberculosis-tb-untreatable-bug-drug-resistance-stop-tb-partnership-who
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-doge-rubio-usaid-musk-death-toll-malaria-polio-tuberculosis