Tuberculosis cases rising in U.S. as public health agencies lack resources for prevention and contro

Even as the number of U.S. tuberculosis cases rise, public health experts say, awareness is lagging. And state and local health departments lack the resources to keep up with prevention and control efforts (Source: “Tuberculosis cases rise, but public health agencies say they lack the resources to keep up,” Stateline, Feb. 7).

U.S. tuberculosis cases rose 5% in 2022, disproportionately affecting communities of color.

Until COVID-19, tuberculosis was the world’s deadliest infectious disease, killing about 1.5 million people annually.

Contrary to public perception, the disease is still active in the United States. The number of TB cases in the U.S. briefly dropped at the start of the pandemic, but there was a 5% increase in cases in 2022, according to the latest numbers from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from 7,874 in 2021 to 8,300 in 2022.

A recent report by Trust for America’s Health, a nonprofit research and advocacy group, concluded that “many long-standing deficiencies remain unaddressed as state and local health departments could not use pandemic response funding to address other public health programming and infrastructure needs.”