By The opinion
Mar 29, 2024, 01:30 AM EDT
The number of tuberculosis cases in the United States in 2023 was the highest in a decade, according to a new government report.
At least 40 states reported an increase in tuberculosis and rates increased among all age groups, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. More than 9,600 cases were reported, a 16% increase from 2022 and the highest since 2013.
According to official data, tuberculosis is caused by a bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Germs spread from person to person through the air. People who have tuberculosis disease in the throat or lungs spread germs into the air when they cough, sneeze, talk, or sing. If you breathe germy air, you can get tuberculosis. It is not spread by touching, kissing or sharing food or dishes.
You are more likely to get tuberculosis from people you live or work with than from people you see for shorter periods.
Therefore, tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial disease that usually attacks the lungs. But it can also attack other parts of the body, including the kidneys, spine and brain.
According to the statistical recordcases decreased widely at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but have been increasing since thences.
Most cases of tuberculosis in the United States are diagnosed in people born in other countries. Experts say the 2023 figure is partly a combination of an increase in international tuberculosis casesl: The World Health Organization said tuberculosis was second only to COVID-19 in deadly infectious diseases worldwide in 2022. And there are also increases in migration and post-pandemic international exchanges.
But other factors also come into play, including other diseases that weaken the immune system and allow latent tuberculosis infections to emerge.
CDC officials expected TB numbers to rise, but the 2023 count “was a little higher than expected,” said Dr. Philip LoBue, director of the agency’s Division of Tuberculosis Elimination.
Despite the jump, the number and rate of new tuberculosis cases each year remain lower than in the past, and the United States has a lower rate of new tuberculosis cases than most countries.
At the end of the 19th century, tuberculosis killed one in seven people living in the United States and Europe. But the development of antibiotics and public health efforts managed to treat infections and track those they infected, leading to cases declining for decades.
The new CDC statistics do not count how many people were newly infected in 2023, but rather how many people developed other symptoms and were diagnosed.
It is estimated that 85% of the people counted in 2023 were infected at least one or two years earlier and had what is called latent tuberculosis, when the bacteria enters the body and hibernates in the lungs or other parts of the body. Experts estimate that up to 13 million Americans have latent tuberculosis and are not contagious.
*With information from ABC News and CNN.
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