Richard StoneNorth Korea has yet to report a single case of COVID-19—a remarkable success that, if true, the nation achieved after severing links with the outside world.
But that isolation could soon exact a steep toll in other areas of public health: Humanitarian groups warn the isolated country is facing eroding food security, and they are bracing for a rapid spread of tuberculosis (TB), as supplies of first-line drugs against more treatable strains are expected to run out this month.Even before the coronavirus pandemic, North Korea had one of the world’s highest TB prevalence rates outside sub-Saharan Africa.