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(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) – The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department joins the World Health Organization (WHO) in recognizing World Tuberculosis (TB) Day on March 24, 2025. This annual event seeks to raise awareness of ongoing efforts to eliminate TB worldwide. Even though TB is preventable and curable, it continues to be the world’s deadliest infectious disease, with about 1.25 million deaths globally in 2023 (WHO Global TB Report, 2024). In Santa Barbara County, rates of TB increased 20% from the previous year, reflecting a return to pre-pandemic levels.
Active TB is a disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The respiratory disease is transmitted through the air from person-to-person. Symptoms for active TB can include a cough that last for 3 weeks or more, cough with blood or sputum, chest pain, fatigue, loss of appetite, or weight loss. TB may be dormant at first, often referred to as latent TB infection (LTBI) with no symptoms. It may take years for LTBI to progress into active TB disease and millions of people in the U.S. have LTBI and don’t know it. Risk factors for TB disease include:
- Close contact to someone with infectious TB disease during their lifetime.
- Birth, travel, or residence in a country with an elevated TB rate.
- Immunosuppression
“We, unfortunately, see many cases of active TB in Santa Barbara County,” said Dr. Henning Ansorg, Health Officer and TB Controller for the County of Santa Barbara. “It is important for our medical community to understand that we have a significant amount of undiagnosed TB cases in the County and to take this into consideration when confronted with patients that present with pneumonia, the most common presentation of Tuberculosis.”
TB disproportionally impacts neighborhoods high in poverty and migrants in our county. In 2024, 90% of TB cases were persons born outside of the U.S., which is higher than the national average of 70% (CDC, 2024).
The most effective way to protect yourself and your loved ones is by understanding your risk for TB. If you think you may be at an increased risk, have had contact with someone who hasTB, or are experiencing symptoms, reach out to your healthcare provider to discuss screening or testing options.
Our County of Santa Barbara Health TB program continues to break barriers in access to healthcare by offering services in Mixteco, Spanish, and English. In the last year, the TB program also worked with Mixteco interpreters to translate patient forms, educational material, radio interviews, and videos. Access to our TB education material can be found here.
For more information about TB, please visit the CDC TB website at https://www.cdc.gov/tb/.