The Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH) is providing this information about current and historical active tuberculosis (TB) cases in the county in response to media and public interest in this disease.
TB is an infectious disease caused by bacteria; however, not everyone infected with TB will develop symptoms. As a result of a successful public health TB control program, active TB has become a rare disease in the United States.
Public health TB Control Programs’ intensive efforts focused on identifying cases, notifying exposed contacts, and providing treatment have caused a dramatic decline in reported TB cases over the past decades. During recent years, and as more fully noted below, each year Erie County’s TB Control Program has managed active TB cases among our fellow residents, all of whom are either citizens of the U.S. or have legal U.S. status.
The risk of being exposed to TB in Erie County is extremely low. TB is not a disease that is easily transmitted in casual, brief or occasional interactions. Most TB exposures are identified in households, workplaces, social gatherings and direct care/health care settings among people residing in the community.
Recent active TB case counts include:
2023 to date: 9 cases
2022: 10 cases
2021: 14 cases
2020: 15 cases
2019: 3 cases
2018: 13 cases
[Historical cases and trends in NYS and by county: https://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/diseases/communicable/tuberculosis/docs/2022_cases_rates.pdf]
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- Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH): www.erie.gov/health
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), TB: www.cdc.gov/tb
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