Tuberculosis cases in the US rose to their highest levels in more than a dozen years
This 2006 electron microscope image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria, which causes the disease tuberculosis. (Janice Carr/CDC via AP)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Janice Carr]
NEW YORK (AP) — Tuberculosis continued to rise again in the U.S. last year, reaching its highest levels in more than a dozen years.
More than 10,300 cases were reported last year, an 8% increase from 2023 and the highest since 2011, according to preliminary data posted this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Both the number of cases and the rate of infections rose. Rates were up among all age groups, and 34 states reported an increase.
CDC officials say the rise is the mainly due to international travel and migration. The vast majority of U.S. TB cases are diagnosed in people born in other countries. Other illnesses that weaken the immune system and allow latent TB infections to emerge may also be at play.
Outbreaks in several states have contributed to recent TB trends, including a recent one in the Kansas City, Kansas area. The Kansas TB rate jumped 148% last year, according to the new CDC data. Alaska and Hawaii continue to have the highest case rates.
Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria that usually attack the lungs, and is spread through the air when an infectious person coughs or sneezes. If not treated properly, it can be fatal. In the late 1800s, TB killed one out of every seven people living in the United States and Europe. But the development of antibiotics and public health efforts succeeded in treating infections and tracking down those they infected, leading to cases falling for decades.
The new CDC statistics are not a count of how many people were newly infected, but rather of how many people developed a cough or other symptoms and were diagnosed.
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