Sept. 17, 2024—Qiagen is calling for a sharper focus on testing strategies to stop new cases of tuberculosis from further increasing and spreading in the United States. The U.S. has maintained one of the lowest TB rates in the world, but case counts across all age groups have risen every year since 2020, including from 8,320 cases in 2022 to 9,615 in 2023, an increase of 1,295 (16 percent) cases (Williams PM, et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2024;73[12]:265–270). Earlier this year, the American Academy of Pediatrics updated its TB screening guidelines to encourage use of blood-based testing for children of all ages, including from birth to two years old.
“In addition to the thousands of active cases seen in the U.S. each year, an estimated 13 million Americans from all walks of life are already infected with a latent or silent form of TB and don’t know it,” Nedal Safwat, PhD, Qiagen’s vice president of molecular diagnostics, North America, said in a press statement. “But when TB is in its ‘silent’ stage it can be effectively and affordably treated. The only way we can meet goals to end TB is to diagnose and treat these individuals before their disease erupts, infects others, and inflicts lingering or lifelong disability.”
Qiagen invites health care providers, public health advocates, and policymakers to join its free, CME- and CPD-accredited Global TB Summit 2024, Oct. 8–11, to receive updates on the latest data, news, and strategies to defeat TB over the next decade.