With Worldwide Tuberculosis Cases On The Rise, Texas Is Vulnerable To TB

In recent years, Texas has ranked the #2 state for Tuberculosis (TB) infections. And with a worldwide rise of TB cases, Texas could be in for a surge of very sick people.

According to the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report, 8.2 million people were reported as newly diagnosed with TB in 2023,  the highest number since the WHO began tracking TB cases.

In 2023, TB probably returned to being the world’s leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, following 3 years in which it was replaced by coronavirus disease.

This is up from 7.5 million in 2022 and 7.1 million in 2019 and, "far above the levels of 5.8 million in 2020 and 6.4 million in 2021."

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The report does speculate that TB diagnoses could have been hampered during the pandemic years and that some people might have simply been diagnosed later.

Most cases come from a handful of countries including  India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

However, Texas is still vulnerable, particularly in border communities, according to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services (TDHHS).

In 2022, border counties represented 21.2 percent of TB cases in Texas, although only 9.5 percent of the Texas population live in a border county.

Webb, Hidalgo, and Cameron counties were hit heavily with TB cases in 2022 (the latest year for which TDHHS has numbers).

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TB in Texas also disproportionally affects Hispanic people at over 55% of cases in 2022.

As we all learned during the pandemic years, outbreaks and rises in infections can travel anywhere- and quickly.

For information on how to prevent TB, head to the CDC website.