To the editor:
World Tuberculosis Day, March 24, commemorates a centuries-old disease that remains the world’s leading infectious disease killer. On March 24, 1882, Dr. Robert Koch identified Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the causing bacterium.
According to HealthCity, the World Health Organization estimates that one in four people worldwide have been infected with TB and another 10 million will become sick with TB disease annually. In Massachusetts, incidence rates of TB today are higher than the national average, 3.2 per 100,000 residents, compared to 2.9. It has increased in the U.S., with an estimate of 13 million people with latent TB—that condition when there is infection but not yet disease. Globally, in 2024, 10.7 million people fell ill with TB, and 1.23 million died of it.
We can identify, treat, and cure tuberculosis. So why is it still so prevalent? This disease preys upon the marginalized, undernourished, and immunocompromised. As a disease of poverty, it is more frequent in the global south and especially impacts children, contributing to astonishingly high rates of maternal, infant, and child deaths. In fact, for the first time this century, the number of children dying before their fifth birthday has risen. An estimated 4.8 million young children died in 2025, over 200,000 more than 2024. This is a statistic to be ashamed of.
Inadequate resources have been dedicated to research. In fact, the only TB vaccine in use is 100 years old and not fully protective! Yet we know that tuberculosis anywhere is tuberculosis everywhere. Therefore, it is in our own best interests to allocate greater funding. This must address the development of improved diagnostics like rapid tests and AI-powered X-rays and shorter treatments that are better tolerated. We must also fund global nutrition as malnutrition contributes to illness and death. Adequate nutrition promotes better immune function and improves tolerance of treatments. Access to good nutrition, universal community-based healthcare, and wider use of diagnostics will all contribute to preventing illness.
Congress should support Appropriations funding including $1 billion for global tuberculosis funding and $1.5 billion for the Global Fund for fiscal year 2027. These numbers pale compared to the costs of the current war at $890 million daily or $11.8 billion in the first six days alone. Our money is better spent saving lives. The time to address this age-old scourge is now.
Leslye Heilig, M.D.
Great Barrington
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