Three active cases of tuberculosis have popped up in Maine, following an increase of the disease in the United States since 2020 — most of it among those not born in the U.S. — after three decades of decline, national data reveals.
Lindsay Hammes, spokesperson for the Maine Center for Disease Control, told the Portland Press Herald that the agency was “aware of three active TB cases with links to the Greater Portland area and is in the midst of conducting our typical response.”
She added that the cases do not appear be transmitted between those three persons and each came from a separate source. Meanwhile, city and state officials told the newspaper rumors of an outbreak at the Portland shelter for asylum seekers are untrue.
However, data clearly shows that most of the TB cases in the United States are among those born elsewhere in the world.
In the U.S. in 2024, 10,347 cases were reported of the disease, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That’s a rate of 3 cases per 100,000 of the population, part of the trajectory after an all time low in 2020 which began increasing in 2021 and has continued through at least 2024.
The CDC report does not directly link the U.S. TB increase to the massive influx of illegal boarder crossings during the years of the Biden administration. But the latest CDC data does draw a dramatic difference in rates between those born in the U.S. and those born elsewhere.
According to the CDC’s TB web page:
Consistent with previous years, in 2024, TB disease disproportionally affected non-U.S.-born persons. Among U.S.-born persons, there were 2,356 (23 percent) provisionally reported TB cases with a corresponding rate of 0.8 per 100,000 persons. Among non-U.S.-born persons, there were 7,915 (76 percent) provisionally reported TB cases with a corresponding rate of 15.5 per 100,000 persons.
In 2023, Breitbart News and the Washington Times reported thousands of migrant children who tested positive with latent versions of the disease were released in 44 states throughout the U.S.
In his 2024 campaign, candidate Donald Trump repeatedly said that illegal migrants coming across the southern boarder were coming “with contagious disease.”
“You know, like it’s all of a sudden you see there’s a run on tuberculosis,” he told one news outlet. “There’s a run on things that we haven’t talked about for years in this country.”
Every year, 10 million people fall ill with tuberculosis (TB) worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Despite being a preventable and curable disease, 1.5 million people die from TB each year — making it the world’s top infectious killer, the agency says.
Most recently in the states, a high school student in Riverside County, California also tested positive for TB this week, KTLA TV reported. The student is receiving treatment and is expected to make a full recovery.
Last week, another active case was reported at a high school in Branch County Michigan. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services recorded 165 cases of tuberculosis in 2024, according a Detroit network affiliate.
In Maine, the state CDC reported there have been 28 cases of TB this year through the end of July, according to the Herald, but state officials stressed there is no “outbreak.”
TB is spread from person to person through the air, health officials say.
Not everyone infected with TB gets symptoms. Those with active cases can manifest a persistent cough, including coughing up blood or sputum, chest pain, fever, and fatigue, according to the CDC.
According to the Mayo Clinic, active cases require attacking the disease with several antibiotics, sometimes for long periods.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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