Search API

Tuberculosis Outbreaks 2025

The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that tuberculosis outbreaks will continue to pose a global health risk in 2025. The WHO issued an updated Global Tuberculosis (TB) Report 2025 in November. Between 2023 and 2024, the global rate of people falling ill with TB declined by nearly 2%, while deaths from TB fell by 3%. The WHO states that most people who develop TB reside in the Regions of Southeast Asia, Africa (specifically South Africa), Europe, and the Western Pacific. India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, and Pakistan together accounted for over 50% of the global TB burden. As of March 2025, UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data showed a 13% increase in reported TB cases in 2024 (5,480) compared to 2023, resulting in more than 600 additional diagnoses in 2024 (in London and the Midlands) compared to 2023. 

Tuberculosis in Children 2025

The 2025 Tuberculosis Surveillance and Monitoring Report, released by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the WHO Regional Office for Europe on March 24, 2025, shows that children under 15 years of age accounted for 4.3% of those with new and relapsed TB in the WHO European Region, representing a 10% surge in pediatric TB for 2023, compared to 2022. The WHO estimates that 200,000 children die from TB annually.

Almost two-thirds of TB cases in children worldwide were either not reported or went undiagnosed and untreated. Of the children who developed TB in 2023, the diagnosis was confirmed in only 36%. Estimates show that about 67 million children with latent TB infection are at risk of developing active TB. In a prospective South African birth cohort study published by The Lancet in November 2024, M tuberculosis transmission was found to be consistently high throughout the first decade of life, leading to approximately 10% of children developing TB disease. 

Tuberculosis Outbreaks in the United States

After nearly three decades of consistent decline in TB in the United States, the infection rate began increasing in 2021. In 2024, 10,347 TB cases were provisionally reported by the U.S. CDC. The percentage increase in case counts (8%) and rates (6%) from 2023 to 2024. Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia reported increases in TB case counts. The CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published in June 2024, examined the most recent five years of data from the National TB Indicators Project. This data indicated that up to 13 million people in the U.S. (60 jurisdictions) live with latent TB infection. The CDC reports that four U.S. states combined accounted for half of all U.S. TB cases in 2022: California, Texas, New York (including New York City), and Florida.

On January 23, 2024, USAID published its Annual TB Report to Congress, which indicated that global TB case notifications increased by 70% in 2022 compared to 2021.

A study published in September 2024 showed that tuberculosis infection (TBI) disproportionately affects non-US-born persons. Among persons born in countries with high rates, 9.9% had TBI. In an April 2024 analysis of TB incidence rates for racial/ethnic populations, incidence rate ratios were 14.2 times higher among younger American Indian or Alaska Native females. In January 2024, the CDC Tuberculosis Yellow Book 2024 reported that immigrants from countries with a high TB burden and long-term residents of high-burden countries have a 10× greater incidence of TB than the U.S. national average.

Texas reported 1,235 TB cases in 2023, up from 1,100 in 2022. Data from 2023 indicates TB rates are accelerating in certain cities (Dallas, Fort Worth, Hidalgo County, Houston, and San Antonio) in 2024. In 2022, 7,415 Texans were exposed to TB. Public health departments treated over 2,900 people for TB infection in 2022, and 50 Texans died of TB, the second most in any state. Harris County Public Health was recognized by the CDC for its Tuberculosis Elimination Program in 2025. Harris County (Houston) reported the most TB cases (269) in 2022. In 2021, 998 TB patients were reported throughout Texas, representing a 12.5% increase from the previous year. In 2019, Texas's 32 border counties had an average TB incidence nearly triple the national rate. About 69% of people diagnosed with TB in Texas were non-U.S.-born.

Tuberculosis Vaccines

As of 2025, various TB vaccines have been authorized worldwide.

Chlamydia Vaccines 2025

Researchers are progressing with Chlamydia vaccine candidates in clinical trials in March 2025. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the United Kingdom, and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have not approved a vaccine to prevent chlamydia infections, a common bacterial sexually transmitted pathogen. The Annals of Family Medicine journal published a study (23 (2) 136-144) on March 24, 2025, concluding that many women do not receive guideline-adherent treatment in primary care settings. For example, the time to treat chlamydia was longer for patients aged 50-59 years (time ratio relative to those aged 20-29 years = 1.61; 95% CI, 1.12-2.30).

Chlamydia Vaccine Candidates

The U.S. FDA has granted fast-track designation to Sanofi's mRNA vaccine candidate for preventing chlamydia infection. The decision announced on March 26, 2025, was based on the potential of the vaccine candidate to address a serious condition and an unmet public health need. Sanofi's multi-antigen chlamydia vaccine candidate proceeded to Phase 1/2 in 2024.

Statens Serum Institut's adjuvanted vaccine candidate (CTH522) has completed clinical Phase Ia and Ib testing in The Lancet Infectious Diseases and Research Square. The vaccine antigen CTH522 is a recombinant, engineered version of the C. trachomatis major outer membrane protein, comprising heterologous immunorepeats from four genital C. trachomatis serovars (D, E, F, and G). In April 2024, CTH522, with CAF01 or CAF09b, was found safe and immunogenic in the EU Horizon Program TRACVAC-funded phase 1 clinical trial. 85 μg CTH522-CAF01 induced robust serum IgG binding titers. Intradermal vaccination conferred systemic IgG neutralization breadth, and topical ocular administration increased ocular IgA formation. 

LinKinVax, linked to the Vaccine Research Institute, is conducting pre-clinical research on the Anti.CD40.chlamydia vaccine candidate.

The UNC Chlamydia Vaccine Initiative is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to accelerate the development of a novel vaccine that prevents CT ascension in the female genital tract, eliminating CT-associated PID and infertility.

A safe and effective multi-epitope vaccine was designed using an immunoinformatics approach to prevent C. pneumoniae infection. As of September 12, 2023, the study's results provided novel strategies for developing C. pneumoniae vaccines; however, future experimental validation of this vaccine candidate is needed to determine its efficacy, effectiveness, and safety.

Chlamydia Tests

The U.S. FDA granted marketing authorization to LetsGetChecked for the Simple 2 Test on November 15, 2023. This is the first diagnostic test for Chlamydia and gonorrhea with at-home sample collection to be granted marketing authorization. A new WHO report on the Diagnostics Landscape for Sexually Transmitted (July 2023) Infections highlights diagnostics available to support scale-up of screening for STIs, including Chlamydia.

Chlamydia Overview

On April 21, 2023, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Chlamydia was the most common sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the U.S. in 2021, with 1,644,416 cases, a 3.9% increase compared with 2020, with 58% of all chlamydia cases occurring among people aged 15 to 24 years. If undetected or left untreated, the STD Chlamydia represents a significant cause of pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility in women. In the United Kingdom, chlamydia diagnoses (all ages) increased by 24.3% to 199,233 in 2022.

Chlamydia Vaccine News

April 11, 2024 - The Lancet published an Editorial - Immunological responses in a Chlamydia trachomatis vaccine trial.

May 8, 2023 - Australian scientists have begun vaccinating wild koalas against Chlamydia in an ambitious field trial in New South Wales. A Chlamydia vaccine for koalas has shown promise for replacing antibiotic treatment in mild ocular Chlamydia disease. 

April 12, 2023—Blue Water Vaccines Inc. announced the signing of a Sponsored Research Agreement with the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio to fund a non-human primate study to evaluate the efficacy of BWV-401, a live attenuated, orally delivered Chlamydia vaccine. In this new effort, BWV will fund an NHP study to evaluate the effectiveness of BWV-401 further and provide additional support for development towards human clinical trials.

April 6, 2023—The NEJM journal published the findings from Original Research, which disclosed that the incidence of Chlamydia disease was two-thirds lower following treatment with doxycycline compared to standard care.

March 20, 2023 - Kathryn Frietze, Ph.D., an assistant professor in The University of New Mexico's Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, received a five-year grant from the U.S. NIH for $250,000 per year to support efforts to develop a vaccine for Chlamydia.

February 20, 2023 - Researchers from the University of Washington, Kenya Medical Research Institute, and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute announced results from a clinical trial demonstrating that doxycycline taken after sex does not prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections (Chlamydia or gonorrhea) among women. 

May 30, 2022 - The journal Vaccines published: Epitope-Based Vaccines against the Chlamydia trachomatis Major Outer Membrane Protein Variable Domain 4 Elicit Protection in Mice. Immunization with these MS2 VLPs protected from vaginal Chlamydia infection in a murine challenge model. These data suggest that short peptide epitopes targeting the MOMP-VD4 could be appropriate for Ct vaccine design when displayed on an immunogenic bacteriophage VLP vaccine platform.

January 12, 2022 - The journal Vaccines published: Immunogenicity and Protective Capacity of a Virus-like Particle Vaccine against Chlamydia trachomatis Type 3 Secretion System Tip Protein, CT584. These data demonstrate the potential for antibodies against the T3SS to contribute to protection against C. trachomatis and the value of VLPs as a novel platform for C. trachomatis vaccines.

April 28, 2021 - Chlamydia trachomatis vaccines for genital infections: where are we, and how far is there to go? The first Phase, one clinical trial of a C. trachomatis vaccine to protect against genital infections, was completed.