COVID-19 can lead to the development of tuberculosis in patients who are carriers of the pathogen, Professor Irina Vasilyeva, Chief Outpatient Phthisiatrician of the Ministry of Health says. According to the expert, a patient's lungs become a target for both COVID-19 and tuberculosis, therefore a patient suffering from COVID-19 may wake up tuberculosis infection which has been latent until then. Because of the similarity of the symptoms of both diseases, there is a risk of not recognizing this deadly disease. "The task of doctors is not to miss tuberculosis with changes in the lungs, which are sometimes mistakenly interpreted as manifestations of coronavirus," Vasilyeva said. According to statistics, 8 out of 10 people are carriers of the causative agent of tuberculosis, but the disease only enters the active stage when immunity drops sharply. From the moment of infection to the activation of the disease may take a year or 60 years, and even a strong stress can become a trigger.