In recent decades, the world has made dramatic progress in lowering the number of deaths from infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, HIV, malaria, and polio. But as campaigns are paused or cut back and as people miss routine care due to the coronavirus pandemic, these illnesses are getting a rare opportunity to come roaring back.

Tuberculosis deaths were down worldwide almost 50 percent over the past two decades (to 1.3 million a year). But the illness is likely returning in many countries right now, and researchers estimate we could see as many as 1.4 million extra TB deaths over the next five years.

Malaria deaths, too, which have been falling for decades, are likely to rise. Previous disruptions to anti-malaria efforts (such as during recent Ebola outbreaks) led to thousands of additional deaths from the mosquito-borne virus. And polio, which has been on the cusp of global eradication in recent years, could come surging back in places that have been working diligently for decades to eliminate it.

Even in the US, where we have vanquished many of the most devastating infectious diseases, once-rare illnesses may rebound. As people under stay-at-home orders forgo routine medical care, including scheduled vaccinations for children, preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough will have more unprotected people to infect. And that puts not only more people at risk, but also more strain on the healthcare system.

“Any country is vulnerable when faced with multiple threats,” Claire Standley, a faculty member at Georgetown University’s Center for Global Health Science and Security, told Vox in an email. “Those most at risk are the ones with limited human, material, and financial resources to support outbreak response.”

And this is already playing out. The Democratic Republic of Congo is currently fighting Covid-19 alongside Ebola and the world’s largest outbreak of measles. And Yemen is battling Covid-19 in the midst of devastating armed conflict as well as a massive cholera outbreak.

Read the full article about coronavirus collateral damage by Katherine Harmon Courage at Vox.