The White Plague Returns · Episode 1 of 12 · 16 min
The Disease We Thought We'd Beaten
Tuberculosis was supposed to be finished, yet U.S. cases rose four years in a row to the highest count since 2011, topping ten thousand a year. The episode maps the series and states its thesis: tuberculosis returns whenever a society stops watching. It looks at the disputed size of a Kansas City, Kansas outbreak and Alaska's rate of about four times the national average, then gives the strongest case that the return is overstated.
Who's who
- Robert Koch+4 more episodesGerman physician who announced the tuberculosis bacterium in 1882
- George W. Comstock+1 more episodeEpidemiologist whose 1950s Alaska trial showed isoniazid could prevent TB
- Lee Reichman+1 more episodeTB physician who coined the U-shaped curve of concern
- Jill BronaughKansas health spokesperson who called the outbreak largest since the 1950s
- Ashley Goss+1 more episodeKansas deputy health secretary who called the outbreak unprecedented
- Janet Stanek+1 more episodeKansas health secretary who announced the outbreak's end
- Anne Zink+2 more episodesAlaska chief medical officer who described the state's distinct TB strain
Where it happens
- Kansas City, Kansas+1 more episodeSite of a major 2024 to 2025 tuberculosis outbreak
- Wyandotte County, Kansas+1 more episodeCounty where the outbreak began
- Alaska+11 more episodesCarries about four times the national TB rate
- Bethel, Alaska+5 more episodesRegion of Comstock's isoniazid prevention trial
- Anchorage, Alaska+6 more episodesWhere active TB cases reached operating rooms undisclosed
Timeline
- 1882Robert Koch announces the bacterium that causes tuberculosis
- 1992U.S. count peaks at 26,673 cases
- 2020Cases fall about a fifth in a single pandemic year
- 2021 to 2024U.S. cases rise four years in a row
- November 14, 2025Kansas declares the Kansas City outbreak over: 68 active cases and 91 latent infections
- March 2026CDC provisional count for 2025 is 10,260 cases, down about one percent
Still debated
Kansas officials called the outbreak the largest documented in the U.S. since the 1950s, while a CDC spokesperson said larger ones occurred in the past decade. Why cases rose from 2021 to 2024 is not settled, and it is unclear whether 2024 was a peak or a step on a higher plateau.
Connected episodes in other series
Who DecidesFishing for a Solution · Episode 11
Tuberculosis: The White Plague and the Sanatorium MovementThe U.S. Public Health Service · Episode 15Also features Robert Koch
The Magic BulletFrom Scalpel to Light · Episode 1Also features Robert Koch
Alaska's Fight Over Public Money for Religious SchoolsA Wall of Separation · Episode 12