Costa Rica reported 474 cases of tuberculosis between 2023 and 2024, a silent, airborne disease that continues to threaten public health in the country. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) suspects the official count may underrepresent the true scale of infections, potentially doubling to nearly 1,000 cases, though not due to data mismanagement but rather limited public awareness and testing.
This underreporting may be tied to the normalization of tuberculosis’s primary symptom: a persistent cough. “Between 2023 and 2024, 474 cases were recorded, but epidemiological estimates suggest Costa Rica could have up to twice that number,” Jorge Victoria, PAHO’s advisor for Disease Prevention and Control, told Teletica.com. “This indicates we’re not identifying all the sick patients.”
Specialists urge the public to take a cough lasting more than two weeks seriously. “It’s an alarm symptom,” Victoria explained. “Tests and treatment are completely free, so anyone with a prolonged cough should seek care promptly at a health center.” Tuberculosis, spread through coughing, can be effectively treated if caught early.
Approximately one million Costa Ricans carry the bacterium in its inactive form, showing no symptoms and unable to spread it, though this latent pool could fuel future cases if activated. According to the latest Health in Perspective report from Universidad Hispanoamericana (UH), 131 people were hospitalized in 2024 due to tuberculosis complications.
PAHO specialists emphasized the urgency of action: “A cough persisting beyond two weeks—unlike those from fleeting illnesses like the flu or COVID-19—could signal tuberculosis. Free treatment is available, and early detection saves lives.”
