Tuberculosis (TB) is mostly forgotten, but certainly not gone. We often associate TB with bygone times. In 1882, the consumption, as it was often called then, killed one in seven people in Europe and the U.S.
The disease traveled by coughing; crowded cities in both Europe and the U.S. were thought to be one reason behind its rise. In the Victorian Era, wealthy folks travelled to remote, temperate climates to avoid TB, but people with less resources hacked up blood as their lungs deteriorated, until they died.
Now, although the disease is neither as prevalent nor as deadly as it was in the 19th century, it is around — and showing signs of making an unwelcome comeback. New data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization reported 39,000 cases TB in the 29 European Union and European Economic Area (EU/ EEA) countries. It is still considered the deadliest infectious disease worldwide.
Perhaps most worrying, the disease increased 26 percent in children under 15 during from 2023 to 2025, when the data for the report was collected. EU officials are concerned, because TB in children represents an increase in the disease's continual transmission.
