Tuberculosis, or TB, described by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “the deadliest disease in the world,” is suddenly in Maine. What is tuberculosis exactly? How does it spread? Where is it? Why here?
Let’s take those questions in order. Maine is a rural state with several major cities. At present, in 2025, 28 confirmed cases are reported, with three active cases (transmission possible) in the Greater Portland area.
While the overall risk is low that Mainers will get the disease, this is the largest number at mid-year on record. Maine has experienced tuberculosis cases before. According to State data, while historically rare, annual cases in 2018 and 2022 averaged 16. In 2023, Maine saw a 41 percent increase (24 total).
The disease, deadly if untreated, is curable and displays symptoms. A bacterial infection can affect “the spine, brain and lymph nodes…most commonly…the lungs,” according to Maine data.
Troublingly, an individual can be affected for weeks, months, or years before developing the disease. Maine data says it is passed “through the air,” but typically involves “prolonged exposure.”
National data is less reassuring. Medical News Today reports tuberculosis is spread “one person to another when a person with active disease sneezes, coughs, talks, shouts, sings or blows out air,” adding “once a person inhales the particles, the bacteria enter the lungs. They can also affect…the kidneys, brain and spine” but are “typically only infectious if…in the throat or lungs.”
A 2023 Maine Health Advisory, entitled “Think, Test, Treat TB in Maine,” indicates symptoms of “fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss, night sweats, fever, and cough for more than three weeks…” Coughing up blood is another symptom.
High-risk locations are “homeless shelters, correctional facilities, detention centers, and long-term care facilities.” Timely diagnosed and treated, tuberculosis is curable. Left untreated, it is fatal.
For those reasons, “timely completion of TB treatment is critical,” as is timely assessment, getting tested for TB. The Maine Advisory adds: “Treatment…should be initiated early to avoid disease progression and further spread…” National data confirms incubation is months, up to two years.
If September 2025 reports in Maine are correct – and complete – the disease is currently isolated to the “Greater Portland Area,” although active contact tracing also appears to be underway.
Troublingly, recent tuberculosis cases have arisen outside Portland, including Androscoggin County, “partly due to a substantial refugee and asylum seeker population from Somalia and other African nations.”
In recent years, even Maine’s legacy press reported “the presence of…refugees in Maine means a higher risk of TB among these populations.” That 2018 report noted “More than 90 percent of cases” in one recent year were “among persons foreign born.”
While all this stirs concern and suggests vigilance, “immigrants newly arrived in this country are routinely tested and treated for transmissible diseases,” according to WGME. That, of course, assumes they are not illegal aliens, those entering between checkpoints, and avoiding attention.
Even that outlet, however, cites medical experts who say, “That’s not enough…” Needed is wider testing for “those who work in hospitals, prisons, and homeless shelters…,” adding “public education about preventing the spread of TB is key.”
Undiscussed are other material facts, reinforcing reporting in The Maine Wire about the origin of the recent “outbreak,” which Maine State (Democrat) officials deny is an “outbreak.” Maine’s newly passed Democrat bill aims to make Maine a “sanctuary state,” inviting illegal entrants into Maine.
Many are likely to be in the US illegally, and are also likely to be untested for TB. Today, 76 percent of all tuberculosis cases are “foreign-born patients,” and most from “Asia, Africa, and South America.” In Maine, most asylum seekers are from “Venezuela, Congo, Somalia, Burundi, and Guatemala.”
Nationally, these asylum seekers are overwhelmingly undeserving, with 85 percent either adjudicated as false or “no shows” for their asylum hearing. They are not volunteering for tuberculosis tests.
What does all this mean, with roughly 8000 illegal aliens or unadjudicated asylum seekers in Maine? With Portland blocking “immigration status inquiries,” thus encouraging illegals, the expectation is or should be, that Maine is not out of the woods yet. Be watchful for tuberculosis cases.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
Read full article here