Table 1.

Similarities and Difference between COVID19 and tuberculosis (TB).

	COVID 19	Tuberculosis
Differences
Onset	Acute	Chronic
Transmission	droplet-transmitted, by touching	airborne transmission; by inhalation
Pathogen	Viral disease SARS COV2	Bacterial disease Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Incubation period (exposure to disease)	Short (5-14 days)	Longer
Clinical feature	•Coughing more commonly a dry at presentation •fever and cough: rapid onset •shortness of breath: early	•Coughing in TB is usually productive of sputum and even blood •fever and cough: much longer period •shortness of breath: later stage or as a long-term sequel
Testing specimen	nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swab	Sputum
Diagnostic tests	RT-PCR; rapid test antibody kit, Chest CT scan	Chest radiograph, Mycobacterium culture or molecular techniques, demonstration of acid-fast bacilli (AFB), serological assays
Pathology	Endothelial damage and coagulopathy small vessels	Caseation necrosis and granuloma formation
Treatment	Supportive; HCQS? antiviral Remdesivir	anti-tuberculosis treatment
National policy adoption	Fast	Slow
Prevention	Current: Self- distancing, hand washing, PPE strategy Future: Vaccine Bacilli Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination? Role yet to be proved	Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination
Similarities
Organ affected	Lung	Lung
Genetic and non-genetic factors-lack of knowledge for individual susceptibility	Yes	Yes
Spread	Close contact	Close contact
Rapid diagnosis	Required	Required
Action strategy	Find, Track, Trace, Test, Isolate and Prevent strategy	Find Test, Treat, Monitor and Prevent strategy. DOTS and Monitoring of treatment
Health system	Burden	Burden
Public awareness	Required	Required
Data sharing platform at national and international level	lacking	lacking
Mortality	High	High
Risk factors	Elderly, Diabetes, HIV immunosuppression, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	Elderly, Diabetes, HIV immunosuppression, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Personal protection measures	basic infection prevention and control, cough etiquette, patient triage, hand washing	basic infection prevention and control, cough etiquette, patient triage
Role of digital health technologies	Yes	Yes

Abbreviations: RT- PCR-Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; HIV- Human Immunodeficiency Virus; HCQS-hydroxychloroquine sulphate.