Incidence of tuberculosis up to 2.5 cases per 100,000 in US in 2022

The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) was 2.5 per 100,000 in the United States in 2022, marking an increase since the low of 2.2 cases per 100,000 coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, according to research published in the March 24 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Noting that the incidence of TB decreased substantially from 2.7 cases per 100,000 persons in 2019 to 2.2 in 2020, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic, Kimberly R. Schildknecht, M.P.H., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues describe TB incidence in the United States during 2022.

A total of 8,300 cases of TB were provisionally reported to the National Tuberculosis Surveillance System during 2022 by the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The researchers found that TB incidence increased slightly to 2.5 cases per 100,000 during 2022, but remained lower than during prepandemic years.

In 2022, TB epidemiology was characterized by more cases among non-U.S.-born persons newly arrived in the United States compared with that seen in 2021; by higher incidence among non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native and non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander persons and persons aged younger than 4 years and 15 to 24 years; and by lower incidence among those aged 65 years and older.

"Knowledge of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on U.S. TB epidemiology is evolving," the authors write. "As COVID-19 incidence declines, TB remains an important public health challenge characterized by persistent inequities."

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