Impact of Cough Related Illness on the Global Burden of Disease

In the technology era, we can answer nearly any question with a quick internet search. For example, if we forget who played the love interest in the movie Hitch, we don’t have to guess. Instead, we can simply search for the answer on IMDB. (How many of you were able to come up with her name while reading this?)

But when it comes to questions such as: “How is Portugal dealing with COVID 19?” or “how many people died from tuberculosis in the U.S. in 2019,” we encounter a unique problem. Pharmaceutical companies may see an opportunity to capitalize on tuberculosis deaths by creating a new drug. After all, they could reason, it will be better for the world if we have more drugs that can treat this deadly disease. In other words, they’d be serving the greater good by using their resources to inflate the number of tuberculosis-related deaths. It is also in their best financial interests to present tuberculosis deaths as an unthinkably high number.

Conversely, the political party that controls the White House when they present data may find potential benefit in deflating the number of tuberculosis-related deaths. For the political powers-that-be, serving the greater good may lead them to find any reason possible to stay in the public’s good graces. Demonstrating that they are keeping a deadly disease under control is an effective way to do this.

I’m not suggesting that we truly live in such a Machiavellian society. But these things bear consideration with regards to health data. For this reason, Bill Gates has funded an effort to provide objective, quality data pertaining to world health. The man who headed up this effort, Christopher J.L. Murray, created the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. In the last 15 years, Murray and his team have created an interactive way to track the global burden of disease in real-time.

Cough Burden of Disease Through the GBD Website

Coughs have been an ever-present sign of disease for as long as we’ve been identifying sick patients. However, we have examined cough more closely than ever before throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

We found out quickly in 2020 that COVID-19 could spread easily through cough. With this knowledge in mind, it is by no means illogical to predict that cough will trend upward in the global burden of disease.

Using the interactive tools, one can find accurate information with regards to our initial question about tuberculosis-related deaths in 2019. Through the GBD website, anyone can enter a disease and year in question to find out all of the pertinent data.

Further cough-related conditions included on the GBD database include COPD as well as upper and lower respiratory tract infections.

The data provides what Bill Gates was looking for all along: where will his philanthropic efforts produce a more significant social impact? Where will he get the proverbial greatest bang for the buck?

With the benefit of data from the GBP, we can see that compared to adults, young children living in less developed countries are much more susceptible to respiratory disease. This discrepancy becomes even more extreme when compared with those living in developed countries.

The Importance of Measuring Cough Burden of Disease

Unfortunately, COVID-19 may not be the last viral outbreak we experience in our lifetimes. In addition, infectious respiratory diseases may be becoming stronger as they develop new ways to resist antibiotics and spread between hosts.

For this reason, having reliable, objective, and easily accessible cough-related data will be vital in the future.

Another tool to aid in this effort is the Hyfe App. Data gathered through Hyfe provides cough researchers, epidemiologists, and doctors with rich data in order to guide disease-related decisions.

Health and Truth in the Future

There will always be bad actors who will attempt to lie or bend the truth to suit their goals. Unfortunately, this is an unavoidable fact of life.

However, the past few years have shown us that some people are committed to providing the truth regardless of how power structures or financial situations may be affected. Champions of the truth, such as Christopher J.L. Murray, will go down in history as those who held fast to their convictions and helped humanity survive through deadly disease outbreaks.

We owe a debt of gratitude to the people who maintain the GBD website. Their contributions will echo throughout the generations to come.