Tuberculosis Makes Comeback in US Amid Misdiagnosis and Illegal Immigration

A microbiologist works with tubes of bacteria samples in an antimicrobial resistance and characterization lab at the Infectious Disease Laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, in a file photo. AP Photo/David Goldman

One of the world’s leading killer infectious diseases—tuberculosis (TB)—is surging in the United States with cases rising more than 9 percent last year.

At present, an estimated 13 million people are living in the United States with latent TB infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). TB kills upward of 12 percent of those who’ve been infected.