The Archives

1992

 “After declining for nearly a century, a disease once ranked as the nation’s leading cause of death is back,” calling the resurgence of tuberculosis in 17 states “a tragic social failure.” TB made its comeback in the U.S. because of “poverty, homelessness and AIDS—combined with a crumbling public-health system.” Today, the infectious bacterial disease is at historic lows in the U.S., but globally it killed an estimated 1.5 million people in 2018. People living below the poverty line and those suffering from AIDS are still the most vulnerable to tuberculosis.