Video: Our 2021 report on how tuberculosis numbers dropped in New Mexico from 2006 to 2019.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Every year, World Tuberculosis Day is observed on March 24. This marks the date a doctor first discovered exactly which bacteria was causing the disease, thereby paving the way toward diagnosis and treatment.
Tuberculosis is caused by a bacterial infection that commonly impacts the lungs, although it can also affect other areas including the spine, brain, or kidneys. The disease can be spread through coughing, sneezing, and talking.
History of Tuberculosis in New Mexico
In the late nineteenth century, some tuberculosis patients sought treatment in the form of the dry air, and plentiful sunshine found here in New Mexico. KRQE News 13 spoke with Richard Melzer, author of “Sanatoriums of New Mexico” and former University of New Mexico history professor, to find out more.
According to Melzer, there are a few different reasons people fled to New Mexico to try and find a cure. He confirmed one motivator was the good, clear air at a high altitude, although the other driving factors are a bit more complex.
For some patients, it may have come down to money. While plenty of places in the southwest offer dry air and sunny skies, cities like Colorado Springs or Phoenix were a bit steeper than New Mexico. As for Albuquerque specifically, it became an easy enough city to access with the addition of the train coming from Santa Fe.
“A lot of [patients] came, and taxis would be waiting at the [train] depot,” said Melzer. “The taxi would be ready to bring them to a hospital, and they would have died enroute.”
Patients were often treated at sanitoriums specifically designated for those with tuberculosis. Albuquerque opened up quite a few of these, such as St. Joseph’s. The influx of tuberculosis patients may not have been completely unexpected for New Mexico. Melzer says people have always come to the state in hopes the air would help clear up various respiratory illnesses, although none of those cases impacted the state quite as much as TB.
“It’s important to remember and appreciate where this all came from,” said Melzer. “The origins of our health history, and what all was made.”
Beyond the clear air and the affordability, Melzer partly attributes the large amount of New Mexico tuberculosis patients to marketing. According to Melzer, New Mexico was promoted as a wellness country, with local commerce chambers even launching campaigns to further solidify that notion. Melzer says this had a significant impact for businesses.
“In terms of clothes, pajamas, robes, slippers…” said Melzer. “Every year they had different fashion, if they were wealthy enough. Then of course drug stores, real estate agents, funeral homes, taxis, books…”
At the height of its outbreak, tuberculosis was known as the “romantic disease.” That nickname reached as far as Albuquerque, where Melzer says patients were known as “lovers,” and Central Avenue was even known as “lover’s alley” due to the large amount of sanitoriums nearby.
When asked about the importance of this history, Melzer had this to say.
“If we didn’t have that vaccine developed to deal with TB after 1940, it would still be the deadliest disease,” said Melzer. “It was the number one killer, and we would still be facing that if we hadn’t come up with a vaccine, and if people hadn’t taken the vaccine.”
According to the CDC, there were 41 tuberculosis cases in New Mexico in 2024. Nationally, there were 10,347 cases that year.