NEW YORK — The number of tuberculosis cases in the United States in 2023 is the highest in a decade, according to a new government report.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday that 40 states are reporting increases in tuberculosis, and tuberculosis rates are rising in all age groups. More than 9,600 cases were reported, an increase of 16% from 2022 and the highest since 2013.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of infected people decreased rapidly, but has since been on the rise.
Most tuberculosis cases in the United States are diagnosed in people born in other countries. Experts say this figure for 2023 contributes to a sharp rise in international tuberculosis cases. The World Health Organization has said that by 2022, tuberculosis will be the only deadliest infectious disease in the world, surpassed only by COVID-19. There is also an increase in immigration and the number of international infections following the pandemic. trip.
However, other factors are also at play, such as other diseases that weaken the immune system and allow latent tuberculosis infections to emerge.
CDC officials had expected TB numbers to rise, but TB numbers in 2023 were “slightly higher than expected,” said Dr. Philip Robeau, director of the agency's TB Elimination Division.
Despite the surge, the number and incidence of new tuberculosis cases each year remain lower than ever before, and the number of new tuberculosis cases in the United States is lower than in most countries.
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Tuberculosis is usually caused by bacteria that attack the lungs and is spread through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. If not treated properly, it can lead to death. In the late 1800s, one in every seven people living in the United States and Europe died of tuberculosis. However, with the development of antibiotics and public health efforts, the number of infections has declined for decades as infections are successfully treated and traced.
The CDC's new statistics count the number of people who develop a cough and other symptoms and are diagnosed in 2023, rather than the number of new infections.
An estimated 85% of people counted in 2023 were infected at least one to two years ago and have so-called latent tuberculosis, where the bacteria enters the body and hibernates in the lungs and other parts of the body. Ta. Experts estimate that as many as 13 million Americans have latent tuberculosis, which is not contagious.
When the immune system is weakened by certain drugs or diseases such as diabetes or HIV, tuberculosis awakens, so to speak. Nicole Skaggs said she was infected in 2020 but didn't develop symptoms until 2022, after contracting COVID-19.
“Anything that destroys or weakens your immune system can put you at risk,” says Skaggs, 41, a property manager in Bothell, Washington.
CDC officials say the idea that COVID-19 is responsible for an increase in tuberculosis reactivation is an “important question,” and scientists are not sure what causes latent tuberculosis to reactivate. Still being studied, “we consider it an unknown at this point,” Lobu said.
He also said it was “too early to say” what the trends in tuberculosis will be in the coming years.
A tuberculosis vaccine has been developed, and public health workers who were focused on the new coronavirus are now back to trying new approaches to preventing tuberculosis. New York City, where cases rose 28% last year, hired more tuberculosis case managers and community health workers to keep treatment rates high and increased its use of video monitoring of patients on medication to keep treatment rates high. City health commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said.
Meanwhile, federal tuberculosis funding for state and local health department efforts has remained flat, and one of the main antibiotics used against tuberculosis has run out in recent years. Additionally, drug-resistant tuberculosis infections occur in a small number of cases.
