Panic Explodes After U.S. State’s Residents Contract ‘Deadliest Disease In The World’

Fears are rising for residents of Maine as three people have tested positive for what many medical professionals consider the deadliest disease in the world. Patients were diagnosed with active tuberculosis, and alarmingly, there was no connection between the three individuals, meaning each was likely infected with the disease by different carriers.

All three patients are located in the Greater Portland area, according to officials, who also revealed that work is ongoing to identify and isolate those who have been in close contact with them.

According to the Daily Mail, these three new confirmed cases come as the United States is reporting 10,347 infections of the illness in 2024. This represents an increase of eight percent from the previous year and is the highest total recorded since 2011, which had a total of 10,471.

However, the report also contains some good news, as officials state that the risk to the public from the latest infections is low.

“The World Health Organization considers tuberculosis to be the deadliest disease in the world because it kills the most people of any disease, claiming about 1.25million lives every year, mostly in developing countries,” the Daily Mail said. “The disease has a high fatality rate, killing up to half of patients if left untreated or unvaccinated. That’s far above the fatality rate for Covid, below one percent, measles, 10 percent for untreated patients, and Legionnaire’s disease, also around 10 percent.”

Tuberculosis was, during the 18th and 19th centuries, a guaranteed fatality due to its being incurable at the time. However, it is now easily preventable due to vaccines and is treated with antibiotics. During the 1950s, the illness killed close to 16,000 people a year in the U.S. However, deaths have now dropped to 550 people annually.

Most cases in the country are imported from other parts of the world through migration, according to data from the CDC, with the vast majority of patients entering from outside U.S. borders.

Maine’s CDC officially revealed the news of the infections on Tuesday, telling residents to be on the lookout for symptoms of tuberculosis, such as a persistent cough that does not ease up within three weeks’ time.

Dr. Dora Anne Mills, the chief health improvement officers for MaineHealth, informed the public that it can only be passed if someone is in “close, prolonged contact,” with an infected individual.

She then said, “The vast majority of people do not need to worry about this.”