After declining for over a decade, tuberculosis cases in Los Angeles County have ticked up each year since 2020.
Cases rose more than 18% in that time. The L.A. County Department of Public Health recorded 542 cases last year, compared to 458 in 2020.
“We are definitely one of the hotspots, in California and the United States,” said Dr. Julie Higashi, director of L.A. County’s tuberculosis control program.
How serious is this?
Tuberculosis may seem like a relic of the past in the U.S. and other wealthy countries, yet it still kills more people worldwide than any other infectious disease besides COVID-19 — with about 1.6 million people dying from TB annually.
“It’s the No. 1 infectious disease killer in the world. And a fourth of the world’s population is infected,” Higashi said.
Since 2020, TB rates have steadily crept up in L.A. County.
Courtesy of the L.A. County Public Health Department
)
Not everyone infected with the TB bacteria becomes sick or even knows they have it. Higashi said most of the people who test positive in L.A. have latent tuberculosis. That’s where the bacteria lives in the body without making the person sick, and they are not contagious. Health officials estimate more than 685,000 people in L.A. County have latent TB.
One in 10 develop active tuberculosis, with symptoms you’d associate with tuberculosis patients in movies, such as hacking,…
Read the full article here
