Second Nationwide Tuberculosis Outbreak Caused by Bone Allografts Containing Live Cells - United States, 2023.

During July 7-11, 2023, CDC received reports of two patients in different states with a tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis following spinal surgical procedures that used bone allografts containing live cells from the same deceased donor. An outbreak associated with a similar product manufactured by the same tissue establishment (i.e., manufacturer) occurred in 2021. Because of concern that these cases represented a second outbreak, CDC and the Food and Drug Administration worked with the tissue establishment to determine that this product was obtained from a donor different from the one implicated in the 2021 outbreak and learned that the bone allograft product was distributed to 13 health care facilities in seven states. Notifications to all seven states occurred on July 12. As of December 20, 2023, five of 36 surgical bone allograft recipients received laboratory-confirmed TB disease diagnoses; two patients died of TB. Whole-genome sequencing demonstrated close genetic relatedness between positive Mycobacterium tuberculosis cultures from surgical recipients and unused product. Although the bone product had tested negative by nucleic acid amplification testing before distribution, M. tuberculosis culture of unused product was not performed until after the outbreak was recognized. The public health response prevented up to 53 additional surgical procedures using allografts from that donor; additional measures to protect patients from tissue-transmitted M. tuberculosis are urgently needed.

Tuberculosis - United States, 2022.

Incidence of reported tuberculosis (TB) decreased gradually in the United States during 1993-2019, reaching 2.7 cases per 100,000 persons in 2019. Incidence substantially declined in 2020 to 2.2, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic (1). Proposed explanations for the decline include delayed or missed TB diagnoses, changes in migration and travel, and mortality among persons susceptible to TB reactivation (1). Disparities (e.g., by race and ethnicity) in TB incidence have been described (2). During 2021, TB incidence partially rebounded (to 2.4) but remained substantially below that during prepandemic years, raising concerns about ongoing delayed diagnoses (1). During 2022, the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia (DC) provisionally reported 8,300 TB cases to the National Tuberculosis Surveillance System. TB incidence was calculated using midyear population estimates and stratified by birth origin and by race and ethnicity. During 2022, TB incidence increased slightly to 2.5 although it remained lower than during prepandemic years.* Compared with that in 2021, TB epidemiology in 2022 was characterized by more cases among non-U.S.-born persons newly arrived in the United States; higher TB incidence among non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN) and non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (NH/OPI) persons and persons aged ≤4 and 15-24 years; and slightly lower incidence among persons aged ≥65 years. TB incidence appears to be returning to prepandemic levels. TB disparities persist; addressing these disparities requires timely TB diagnosis and treatment to interrupt transmission and prevention of TB through treatment of latent TB infection (LTBI).