Tuberculosis, also called TB, is one of the world's deadliest diseases and has been affecting people for thousands of years. It's estimated that 2 billion people—one third of the people in the world—are infected with M. tuberculosis. Each year, nearly 9 million people in the world become sick with TB disease, and almost 1.5 million deaths are attributed to TB. While the number of TB cases in the United States has been declining since 1993, there remains a higher-than-normal burden of TB among racial and ethnic minorities. This is due to unequal distribution of TB risk factors that can increase the chance of developing the disease.
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