There were 2,103 cases of TB reported in 1996, a decrease of 11percent from the 2,369 cases reported in 1995, and a 17 percent decrease from the 2,542 cases reported in 1994. After several years of declining TB rates throughout the late 1970s and most of the 1980s, Texas began to see steady increases in the disease starting in 1988, and reaching a plateau in 1994. The number of cases in 1994 was the highest since the state recorded 2,600 cases in 1975. Not all areas of the state have experienced a decline. Among the 77 counties where TB increased, Travis County reported 89 cases of TB in 1996, an increase of 10 percent over the 81 cases reported in 1995.
Tuberculosis remains a major public health threat in Texas.
TB is disproportionately concentrated in large metropolitan and border areas of the state. Public health officials attribute declining disease rates to stepped-up public health efforts to combat the disease. Texas is also working with other border states in the US and Mexico to improve tuberculosis control and prevention. Although TB is decreasing in Texas and in the U. S. as a whole, TB kills more adults in the world than all other infectious diseases combined. The World Health Organization estimates that at least 30 million people will die from TB in the next 10 years if current trends continue.