2 Deadliest Infectious Diseases Have This in Common - Newser

But a new study—following similar research on SARS-CoV-2, which claimed an estimated 3 million lives last year—finds up to 90% of the disease-causing Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) bacteria exuded from an infected person comes in aerosols released through breathing—a finding that could transform "decades of containment strategy focusing on coughing alone," per AFP.

Researchers knew some Mtb bacteria were released when an infected person breathed, but the level was thought to be much lower than with coughing, the dominant symptom.

But if a person were to breathe 22,000 times and cough 500 times in a day, coughing would account for just 7% of the total bacteria spread, the Times reports.