alt Hacker News> we know how to make it statistically insignificant
TB is weird. We do indeed know how to actively manage it (e.g. screen people regularly and treat detected cases), but countries like the US don’t do that. Nonetheless TB does not cause much disease in the US.
Every time I’ve tried to figure out why this is, I’ve come to the tentative conclusion that no one really knows. Maybe it’s the general lack of malnutrition?
TB is a bacteria and people in developed countries generally get treated when they have symptoms of infections. But underdeveloped countries don't have the resources for that, so infections are just "powered through". In addition, a lot of it comes down to resources we take for granted, like sanitation, running water, soap, population density, etc. We have cleaner air, cleaner water, and are more conscious about spreading diseases because we are wealthier.