CDC Report: Tuberculosis Cases Increase in U.S.

Tuberculosis cases are on the rise in the U.S., according to a report published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While the country has one of the lowest rates of TB in the world, according to the report, researchers found that cases increased 16% from 2022 to 2023, with over 9,600 provisionally reported last year.

Tuberculosis cases in the U.S. had declined for close to three decades, the report says, with a particularly notable drop occurring in 2020 that coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since then, cases have increased annually, topping 8,300 in 2022 and hitting 9,615 in 2023 That provisional figure marks the highest number of cases reported in the country in at least a decade, as the U.S. saw 9,556 TB cases in 2013.

“This postpandemic increase in U.S. cases highlights the importance of continuing to engage communities with higher TB rates and their medical providers in TB elimination efforts and strengthening the capacity in public health programs to carry out critical disease control and prevention strategies,” researchers wrote in the report.

Researchers also noted that TB programs suffered during the pandemic as resources were diverted to addressing COVID-19. Disruptions in health care during the pandemic affected timely diagnosis and treatment of TB as well, they said.

“These factors, along with changes in migration volume, probably contributed to the decrease in the number of cases observed in 2020, and to the subsequent rise in case counts and rates since 2020,” the report states. “Identification of TB cases possibly increased after the pandemic because of renewed attention to infectious diseases other than COVID-19.”

Among people with TB whose place of birth was known, researchers said the vast majority of cases – 76% – occurred among those born outside the U.S. The rate was also highest among that group at 15 cases per 100,000 – up from 13.1 in 2022 – compared with a steady year-over-year rate of 0.8 per 100,000 among people born in the U.S.

Among people born in the U.S., rates were highest among Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders and American Indian or Alaska Native people. Among those born outside the country, rates also were highest among NHOPI people, followed by Asian people.

Certain spots in the U.S. saw higher rates of TB than others. The five states with the highest rates of TB in 2023, based on the provisional data, were:

Tuberculosis is caused by a bacteria that typically attacks the lungs. Symptoms include a bad cough that lasts three weeks or longer, chest pain and coughing up blood, according to the CDC. It spreads through the air from person to person, but it’s both a treatable and preventable disease.

Not everyone infected by TB bacteria will develop disease and be contagious, and the CDC report notes most cases in the U.S. are tied to reactivation of “latent” bacteria within a person, rather than “recent transmission.” Still, TB is one of the world’s leading infectious disease killers.