Deadly Lung Disease Cases Surge to 10-Year High, Children Most Affected: CDC

The vast majority—76 percent—of cases in the United States in 2023 were in non-U.S.-born persons.

A doctor examines the x-rays of a tuberculosis patient in a file image. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

U.S. cases of tuberculosis, a deadly infectious disease that typically strikes the lungs, have soared to their highest level in a decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with the largest relative increase among children.

After 27 years of declining tuberculosis rates in the United States, cases of the disease started to climb again in 2020—and they’ve continued to rise every year since, the CDC said in a March 28 report.