Tuberculosis might seem like little more than a plot point from The Gilded Age — a disease that many Americans suffered from in the 19th Century and prior that more or less went away long ago. But alas, the bug is still around; in fact, rates of TB are now rising in the US, after 30 straight years of decline. Overseas, the image is even bleaker: Although it was briefly displaced by COVID-19, tuberculosis regained its title as the the world's leading cause of death by infectious disease in 2023. So, what gives?
In her new piece, written for World Tuberculosis Day — today — Future Perfect fellow Shayna Korol describes the recent changes behind this unwelcome renaissance and identifies what puts communities at greatest risk of infection. She also unpacks what makes the disease so difficult to diagnose, treat, and contain, even more than a century after its origin was identified and antibiotics made it much, much less deadly in America. If you'd like to donate to help combat the threat, her piece closes with some suggestions for places to put your dollars that can make a difference.
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—Seth Maxon, politics, policy, and ideas editor
