US On Alert As Deadly Tuberculosis Sees Uptick In This State

Last Updated:September 06, 2025, 20:30 IST

Maine has three active tuberculosis cases linked to Greater Portland, Maine Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reports, as TB cases rise nationwide.

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As of this week, Maine has three active tuberculosis cases. As TB cases continue to rise nationwide, the Maine Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported, according to the Portland Press Herald.

Spokesperson for the agency, Lindsay Hammes, said it is “aware of three active TB cases with links to the Greater Portland area and is in the midst of conducting our typical response.”

She said the Maine CDC was working to reach anyone who might have come into contact with any of the infected patients so they could be tested.

Hammes noted that each case seems to have originated from a different source.

Although less contagious than the flu or COVID-19, tuberculosis remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease, claiming over one million lives annually, the World Health Organization reports.

A high school student in Riverside County in California, also tested positive for an active case of TB this week, officials said, but is receiving treatment and is excited to make a full recovery, KTLA-TV reported.

Another active case was reported at a high school in Michigan last week, WWJ-TV reported.

Following a significant drop in 2020, tuberculosis cases started to rise in 2021, and this upward trend has continued, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2022.

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 stressed there is no outbreak.

Not all people infected with TB show symptoms, but those with active cases may experience a persistent cough—sometimes with blood or sputum—along with chest pain, fever, and fatigue.

According to Johns Hopkins, TB is a bacterial infection that targets the lungs, but can also infect other organs, and is spread from person to person through the air.

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