As Tuberculosis Cases Rise In the US and Worldwide, Health Officials Puzzle Over the Resurgence of a Disease Once In Decline
Author: Karen Dobos.; Marcela Henao-Tamayo.
Source: Volume 26, Number 04, Fall 2025 , pp.95-96(2)
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Abstract:
Inspired by the 2024–2025 Kansas TB outbreak, which infected 147 people, this article seeks to explain the rising rates of tuberculosis cases after decades of decline. The authors trace TB’s long medical history, describe its airborne transmission, and identify pandemic-related care disruptions, drug shortages, and delayed diagnoses as drivers of resurgence. They emphasize that multidrug therapy remains curative but toxic and vulnerable to resistance, and warn that latent infections and reduced vigilance threaten new epidemics unless awareness, screening, and treatment adherence improve.Keywords: Tuberculosis
Affiliations:
1: Colorado State University; 2: Colorado State University.