On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, announced that 2023 saw a spike in the number of diagnosed tuberculosis cases in the United States. The spike wasn't tremendous, but given the nature of tuberculosis and its transmissibility, it's a matter of serious concern.

The number of U.S. tuberculosis cases in 2023 was the highest in a decade, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced. 

The CDC said on its website Thursday that "overall, cases increased from 8,320 in 2022 to 9,615 in 2023, an increase of 1,295 cases" 

"The rate also increased from 2.5 per 100,000 persons in 2022 to 2.9 in 2023," it added, noting that numbers were up among all age groups. Data from the agency shows nearly 10,000 infections in 2013. 

CDC officials expected TB numbers would rise, but the 2023 count "was a little more than was expected," Dr. Philip LoBue, director of the agency's Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, told The Associated Press. 

While it's important to note that correlation does not equal causation, there is nevertheless another phenomenon in the United States that has increased since 2022, indeed since January of 2021: Illegal immigration. The CDC is silent on the sources of the new infections, but it's not a great stretch of imagination that among millions of immigrants, many from third-world countries, some will be carrying pathogens.

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The CDC goes on to say:

"Although TB incidence in the United States is among the lowest in the world and most U.S. residents are at minimal risk, TB continues to cause substantial global morbidity and mortality," the CDC says, calling it "one of the world’s leading infectious disease killers."

Tuberculosis has vexed mankind since there has been mankind to be troubled by it; historical figures from Elizabeth Barret Browning to John Harvard to John Henry "Doc" Holliday have perished from the "consumption." It's still a problem over much of the globe. The World Health Organization releases, annually, a review of global TB cases, and it's revealing. The top five nations for tuberculosis cases listed in the most recent report are Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, North Korea, and Pakistan, with Russia and China coming in at the top ten.

Interestingly, no Latin American countries come in on the list of nations of greatest concern. But U.S. Customs and Border Protection informs us that the fastest-growing group of illegal border crossers is Chinese nationals.

Again, correlation does not equal causation.

Regardless, this is a serious issue. Tuberculosis has killed millions throughout human history, and the CDC again warns us that there are strains of tuberculosis that are resistant to a range of antibiotics normally used to treat the disease. It's not unreasonable to expect the Biden administration to, at the very least, begin screening for transmissible diseases among the hordes entering the country illegally, not that this would help with the numbers that slip in undetected.

There are many good arguments for getting control of our borders, including this new, troubling increase in a very serious disease. And, like all the other good arguments for getting control of our borders, this is another one that the Biden administration will ignore.