California, which leads the country in reported tuberculosis cases, saw TB case numbers rise to levels not seen in 12 years, state public health officials said.
The number of cases of the airborne disease in 2025 was 2,150 — up from 2,109 in 2024, the California Department of Public Health said. That’s the highest count since 2013.
California continued “to contribute the greatest number of cases to the nation’s total TB morbidity,” Riverside University Health System/Public Health reported. The number of TB incidences in 2025 averaged 5.4 cases per 100,000 people. That’s “substantially higher than the national incidence rate” that year, which was 3.1 cases per 100,000.
However, that spike may represent a normalizing of case numbers after a 5-year low rather than unusual outbreak, the state said.
TB isn’t a disease of the past, the state said. Tuberculosis “kills more than 200 Californians each year. In 2023, the most recent year with complete outcome data, 279 people with TB died.”
Is TB preventable?
Tuberculosis is a disease that affects the lungs. It’s caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a bacteria that can spread through the air when a sick person sneezes or coughs, according to state public health.
“Not everyone infected with the bacteria becomes sick,” the state said. People who are infected, but aren’t sick, carry a latent version of the disease called LTBI — latent tuberculosis infection. People with LTBI may become sick later in life if they don’t treat the latent form of the disease.
The majority of California’s TB cases (83%) developed after the patient had LTBI, the state said. Medical testing might have spotted the disease, and treatment might have prevented many of those latent cases from becoming full-blown TB
Where and why TB cases are high
TB cases were reported throughout the state, in 45 of California’s 61 local health jurisdictions, the state said. Part of what’s driving the state’s high case numbers is travel, especially to places where TB in endemic, according to UC Irvine health researchers.
For 20 years, California’s TB case numbers were in a steady decline, the state said. The number of known/reported cases fell almost 60% between 1992 and 2012. TB numbers in 1992 dwarfed current numbers, with 5,382 cases reported statewide.
People most at risk are children, the elderly and people with other health issues like diabetes, state public health reported.
How much TB cost California in 2025
The department of public health estimated the state spent $303 million overall in 2025 on medical and other expenses related to TB, the state reported.
Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and news stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: California grapples with TB after cases hit 12-year high
Reporting by Jessica Skropanic, USA TODAY NETWORK / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jessica Skropanic, USA TODAY NETWORK | USA TODAY Network
