Reported Tuberculosis in the United States, 2021

This 2021 edition of Reported Tuberculosis in the United States reflects ongoing challenges facing the public health and tuberculosis (TB) communities. The report describes information on cases of TB disease reported to CDC since 1993. This year’s report emphasizes cases counted by the reporting areas in 2021 and the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB surveillance.

TB data from 2021 reveal a rebound in the number of reported cases of TB disease in the United States. This might be explained by a lessening of the effects of factors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and delayed detection of cases with symptom onset during 2020 that were not diagnosed until 2021 because of delayed healthcare access or missed diagnoses. However, TB incidence in 2021 remained 12.4% lower compared with 2019, which might be explained by longer lasting effects of the pandemic, including TB underdiagnosis and public health resource constraints.

Information in this report summarizes incident cases of TB reported to CDC’s National Tuberculosis Surveillance System (NTSS) by:

• 50 U.S. states, New York City, and the District of Columbia (D.C.) unless otherwise specified
• Five U.S. territories (American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands)
• Three independent countries that are in compacts of free association with the United States (Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau)

NTSS has collected information on all newly reported cases of TB disease since 1953, and cases reported since 1993 are maintained in an electronic database. Small variations in historical data included in this edition, compared with previous editions, are attributable to updated information submitted in the interim by reporting areas.

Reported Tuberculosis in the United States, 2021 is published exclusively online. Access the data by selecting the categories below, or through the List of Tables.

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