Why tuberculosis cases have risen in recent years after decades of decline

After declining for nearly three decades, tuberculosis cases in the U.S. ticked up each year from 2020 to 2022.

Cases rose more than 15% in that time, though the disease is still less prevalent than it was before the pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 8,300 tuberculosis cases last year, compared to nearly 8,900 in 2019.

Doctors who treat tuberculosis patients blame the pandemic for the rise in cases, since reduced access to medical care may have prevented some infections from being identified or delayed diagnoses long enough for a latent infection to progress to active disease.

"The number of tests done for TB dropped across the board in this country because everyone was busy looking for Covid," said Richard Chaisson, director of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Tuberculosis Research.