Earlier this month, a high school student in Joliet, Ill. tested positive for a highly contagious disease that has claimed more lives than any other throughout human history.

Many mistakenly believe this pathogen was eradicated decades ago. It not only still exists but is thriving, especially in some of the poorest countries around the world. The ability to monitor this disease, save lives and protect the health of Americans grows weaker by the day as the U.S. deprioritizes international funding to combat it.

It’s tuberculosis. Since its diagnosis in 1882, it’s killed more than a billion people — more than malaria, HIV/AIDS, smallpox, influenza, cholera and the plague combined.

Tuberculosis has taken the lives of notable figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Andrew Jackson, George Orwell, Frederic Chopin and Charles IX, among others. And it’s still being transmitted in astonishing numbers today.

Over 1 million people worldwide died from TB in 2023. Ten million had active symptoms the same year, including nearly 10,000 Americans, a number that’s been climbing steadily since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates nearly 13 million people in the U.S. have “latent TB infection.” Up to 10 percent will develop active TB if they aren’t treated.

Despite TB’s existence for over

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