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Even as the number of U.S. tuberculosis cases rises, public health experts say, awareness is lagging. And state and local health departments lack the resources to keep up with prevention and control efforts. ... A course of treatment for one tuberculosis case can cost around $20,000 in the U.S., and a drug-resistant tuberculosis case can cost at least $182,000. ... “People think tuberculosis is gone. … It’s here and growing,” said emergency medicine physician Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, which represents public health professionals. (Hassanein, 2/7)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reviewing protocols on a luxury cruise ship stopped in San Francisco after more than 100 passengers and crew reported gastrointestinal illnesses. ... The CDC said 128 of the 1824 passengers onboard and 25 of 967 crew reported feeling ill during the cruise. The main symptoms were diarrhea and vomiting but the cause was not yet known, the CDC said. The health agency keeps track of illness outbreaks on cruise ships through its Vessel Sanitation Program and most of the gastrointestinal illnesses it tracks turn out to be caused by the norovirus. (Parker, 2/7)

There is a public health alert in Westchester County after several people fell ill with a parasitic infection after attending game dinners at an American Legion in January. Now, county health officials are trying to identify more people who were exposed.County officials have traced it back to the Moses Taylor Jr. American Legion Post in Mount Kisco. (Dhaliwal, 2/7)

In the clinical trial, the gene therapy seemed to be helping the boy’s skin wounds heal. But, his doctors wondered, could it also help his eyes? The boy, Antonio Vento Carvajal, had a genetic condition called epidermolysis bullosa, or EB, which causes the skin to be so fragile that even the slightest friction can cause blisters or tears. Antonio, like some patients, also had eye issues as a result of the disease. (Joseph, 2/7)

Maria Curotto de Lafaille’s lab was trying to make human plasma cells in a dish. These weren’t just run-of-the-mill cells, though. The team was vying for something specific: plasma cells that churn out immunoglobulin E (IgE), the antibody that drives allergic reactions. (Cueto, 2/7)

Cinnamon has been used for thousands of years, not only in cooking but also for medicinal purposes. The spice may have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Now a new study has found it may have antidiabetic effects. Researchers at UCLA ... found that when the participants took the cinnamon, they had significantly lower 24-hour glucose concentrations, lower peaks in blood sugar, and lower triglyceride levels, suggesting that people with obesity-related prediabetes could achieve better glucose control with cinnamon supplements. (Marshall, 2/7)

Ecuador’s high court on Wednesday decriminalized euthanasia and ordered lawmakers and health officials to draft rules and regulations for the procedure. The decision of Ecuador’s Constitutional Court came in response to a lawsuit from a terminally ill woman diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS, who had argued that she should be allowed to have death with dignity. (Solano and Cano, 2/7)