TUBERCULOSIS UNDER CONDITIONS OF NOVEL CORONAVIRUS INFECTION

Tuberculosis (TB) remains an important medical and social problem up to today. In recent years, great strides have been made in the fight against tuberculosis infection (TI) in reducing TB morbidity and mortality, especially in the Russian Federation. Emergence of new COVID-19 infection in the world has led to the need for long-term isolation of the population, on the one hand, and the need to resort to personal protective equipment, on the other. The spread of COVID-19 may have an impact on the increase in TB morbidity, despite the decrease in the incidence rate, which is related to objective difficulties in detecting TB and complexity of the structure of clinical manifestations of the disease against the background of coronavirus infection and severe complications after COVID-19. The use of immunosuppressive therapy in the treatment of COVID-19 may cause immunosuppression, which will affect the results of TI immunodiagnostics using skin tests. At the same time, IGRA tests can be useful in these conditions, since they are of great diagnostic value. Equally important is the reduction of patient visits to treatment facilities in the context of a pandemic or a high incidence of COVID-19.