TUBERCULOSIS
CDC Releases Publication: “Reported Tuberculosis in the United States”
CDC recently published Reported Tuberculosis in the United States, 2021. The report describes information on TB disease reported to the CDC since 1993, with an emphasis on TB disease cases counted by the reporting jurisdiction in 2021 and the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB disease surveillance.
In 2020, the annual rate of decline was substantially greater than in previous years, which, according to the CDC report, may be due to factors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, including a combination of TB underdiagnosis and a true reduction in incidence. The CDC report identifies the incidence of TB partially rebounding in 2021 and attributes this to lessening of the effects of the factors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as delayed detection of cases with symptom onset during 2020 that were not diagnosed until 2021. Despite the rebound, TB incidence in 2021 remained 12.4 percent lower compared with 2019, which the CDC considers as a consequence of longer lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key Data Points:
- The reported number of TB cases in the United States increased from 7,171 TB cases in 2020 to 7,882 TB cases in 2021, a 9.9 percent increase.
- The national TB incidence rate increased from 2.2 cases per 100,000 persons in 2020 to 2.4 cases per 100,000 persons in 2021. Nine states and the District of Columbia reported TB disease incidence rates higher than the national TB disease incidence rate.
- As in past years, cases of TB disease were not evenly distributed across the United States. Four states account for almost half (49.9 percent) of all reported U.S. TB cases: California, Texas, New York (including New York City), and Florida.
- In 2021, people from racial and ethnic minority groups and non-U.S.–born persons continued to be disproportionately affected by TB disease in the United States, highlighting the persistent health disparities and inequities among people with TB disease.
Last Reviewed: December 2022
