Cases have been slowly rising in the US, the UK, and much of the world since 2021. The world’s top infectious killer, tuberculosis (TB), has plagued humans for thousands of years, and it isn’t going anywhere just yet. Since being scientifically identified in 1882, the disease has killed over 1 billion people – that’s more people than smallpox, malaria, HIV/AIDS, cholera, and the flu combined. A few decades ago, some were confident this bacterial burden could be stamped out in the US and beyond, but now, it’s slowly creeping back with a vengeance. TB is an infection caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis that usually attacks the lungs, although it can impact any part of the body with deadly efficiency. Highly contagious, it’s spread by inhaling tiny airborne droplets from the coughs, splutters, and tainted breath of an infected person.
But it can play strange games with its hosts. Some people can be infected and not fall sick, living alongside the bacteria with no qualms, while others develop a nasty array of symptoms, including a hacking, lingering cough and chest pain. The disease is treatable with antibiotics, but it can be fatal if treatment isn’t received.