The unfinished business of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis Resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s

• Improved nutrition and living conditions led to a decline in TB in the U.S. and Europe by mid-20th century.

• By the late 1980s, TB deaths in the U.S. had fallen by over 90%.

• U.S. Congress stopped direct government funding for TB programmes in 1972, expecting TB to gradually disappear.

• Concerns about TB resurgence included the HIV/AIDS epidemic, drug-resistant TB, and higher rates in foreign-born populations.

• The Immigration and Nationality Act, 1965, opened immigration opportunities, leading to more TB-related migration.

• Despite screening and treatments, TB was losing its battle, with an estimated 8 million new cases and 3 million deaths in 1990.

• TB was declared a “global health emergency” in 1993, with estimates of 2 million to 2.2 million people dying from TB in the 1990s.

• Progress has been made in reducing TB burden, with around 2.6 million people dying from TB each year in 2000.