The US Army says that a tuberculosis situation at Fort Benning is contained after health officials discovered an active case and, later, 47 latent cases in a basic training unit.
An infectious-disease expert said the discovery shows why the disease remains a concern in crowded environments, while the response highlights the importance of maintaining robust public health resources.
The Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia, found the latent cases after a trainee was diagnosed with an active case in March. The Army then conducted routine testing of the patient’s close contacts during a follow-up screening, in accordance with Centers for Disease Control guidelines.
“Those 47 trainees within the same unit were identified as having non-contagious latent TB and are now receiving preventive treatment,” an Army spokesperson said in a statement provided to Business Insider. “Test results are pending for eight personnel, and one trainee is undergoing further medical evaluation.”
The trainee with active tuberculosis was isolated upon diagnosis, the Army said. Those with latent tuberculosis are “receiving appropriate, preventive medical treatment to ensure the infection does not become active in the future,” the statement continued, describing the situation as “contained.”
“Any trainee requiring additional medical evaluation or treatment has been directly notified and is being cared for by Army medical professionals. Affected trainees have also been given multiple opportunities to call home to inform family members of their status and well-being.”
Active tuberculosis means a patient has symptoms, evidence of live bacteria, and is likely contagious, said David Dowdy, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University. Latent TB means a person’s immune system has been infected, but they do not have active disease and are not likely to spread it.
“Forty-seven people with a positive test for latent TB is high,” Dowdy said. “It’s not the highest we’ve ever seen, for sure, but it’s also not uncommon in settings where people are in close quarters with shared air.”
Tuberculosis is preventable and treatable with proper care, but it remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease, with an outsized impact on impoverished regions. Around 9,000 cases are reported to the CDC every year, Dowdy said, often in less affluent parts of the country with fewer public health resources.
An undetected tuberculosis infection can spread more easily in close-quarters settings, including correctional facilities, homeless shelters, college dorms, and some military barracks, as well as in communities with weaker public health systems.
“It’s not a vaccine-preventable disease in the same way that measles or mumps or chickenpox are,” he said.
An Army medical report released this year detailing military testing efforts between 2014 and 2024 described the disease as a “force health protection threat to the US military, particularly in crucial populations at increased risk of exposure or reactivation.”
Of the Army’s response, Dowdy said “this just goes to show the importance of a robust and well-functioning public health system.”
“You can only imagine if those 47 people hadn’t been detected, that some of them would probably have gone on to develop TB themselves and then become contagious. That’s how this sort of outbreak grows.”
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