New strain of tuberculosis cases in Tennessee is resistant to treatment options

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — More than 10,000 Americans and 141 Tennesseans tested positive for tuberculosis in 2025, according to recently released data from the CDC.

We spoke with Dr. Schaffner, a Professor of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, about the impact this bacterial infection has on Tennesseans.

FHO TUBERCULOSIS CASES IN TN 4.11.26

“It’s a bacterial infection spread through close personal contact. It mostly involves the lungs, but can get to other parts of the body. Now, once infected most of the time, most people fight off the infection. They never get sick. Some do, we call that acute tuberculosis, but the bug can live within us, quietly, hibernating like a bear in a cave, and then it can wake up after 10,15, 20 years, and cause what we call reactivation tuberculosis, said Dr. Schaffner, Professor of Infectious Diseases, Vanderbilt University Medical Center.”

One misconception many people may not be aware of is that there is no readily available vaccine for tuberculosis, as it’s not commonly administered in the U.S.

It’s intended to protect young children from severe forms of TB disease, as it offers limited protection for adults.

Many tuberculosis strains are now resistant to the 60-plus-year-old antibiotics that remain a common first-line treatment.

“We don’t have a vaccine against tuberculosis, yet. People are really working on that, because tuberculosis continues to be the major infectious disease killer around the world. So there would be a global need for this vaccine. Here in the United States, we try to identify cases, get them treated, examine all their contacts to make sure that they did or did not get the illness, and if they did, treat the contacts also, said Dr. Schaffner, Professor of Infectious Diseases, Vanderbilt University Medical Center.”

The overall message that health experts want to reiterate is the importance of knowing your status and talking with your primary care doctor if you come in contact with this disease.