Health officials have raised alarms in the Greater Portland area after three people in Maine have been diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB).
All three patients with active are not related to each other, all of whom were in the Portland area, indicating they were all infected by different sources, as reported by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
A CDC spokesperson stated that medical professionals are currently working to screen the patients who came in contact with the three affected people.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that affects your lungs and damages their tissues, causing repiratory issues.
Its symptoms include chest pain, persistent cough, sometimes wet cough with blood and mucus, and fever.
According to the latest data, in the US, a total of 565 individuals have passed away from the life-threatening disease.
In Maine, TB cases have spiked, although there are no current outbreaks reported in the state.
Tuberculosis claims nearly 1.25 million lives every year, largely in developing countries, according to the World Health Organization.