Between 1980 and 2014, there were declines in mortality from most categories of infectious disease, but an increase in mortality for diarrheal diseases; however, there were large differences among US counties. This according to a study that estimated age-standardized mortality rates and trends from lower respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, HIV/AIDS, meningitis, hepatitis, and tuberculosis by county, year, and sex. Researchers found:

• Overall mortality due to infectious diseases decreased from 42.95 to 34.10 deaths per 100,000 persons during the study period.
• There was substantial variation among counties in death rates from all infectious diseases.
• The only category of infectious diseases to increase over this time was diarrheal diseases (from 0.41 to 2.41 deaths per 100,000 persons), with many counties of high mortality extending from Missouri to the northeastern region of the US.