The relative yield of finding and treating latent tuberculosis is particularly high among higher-risk groups of foreign-born persons living in the U.S., such as individuals from most countries of sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, according to a study in the July 23/30 issue of JAMA.
"From 1993 to 2006, the number of tuberculosis (TB) cases in the United States decreased by 45 percent, from 25,107 to 13,779. This decline has occurred disproportionately among the U.S.-born population, for whom the number of cases has declined by 66 percent, while the number of TB cases among foreign-born persons in the United States increased by 5 percent," the authors write. "In 2006,

CHICAGO (AP) - Tuberculosis cases continue to fall in the United States, but some immigrants have disturbingly high rates of the disease, according to a study released Tuesday that called for more aggressive action.
TB rates were highest among residents from lower Africa and parts of Southeast Asia. Most drug-resistant TB cases also were from foreign-born residents, the study noted.
nd the Philippines.

By Judith Groch, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today ATLANTA, July 22 - Strategies for finding and treating latent tuberculosis would prove particularly effective when concentrated on foreign-born persons from sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, a CDC study found.
Action Points
ntries of sub-Saharan Africa had annual case rates of greater than 250 per 100,000 persons during the first two years after U.S. entry.

Kevin P. Cain, MD; Stephen R. Benoit, MD; Carla A. Winston, PhD; William R. Mac Kenzie, MD
JAMA. 2008;300(4):405-412.
total, 53% of TB cases^ among foreign-born persons occurred among the 22% of the foreign-born^ population born in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Isoniazid^ resistance was as high as 20% among recent entrants from Vietnam^ and 18% for recent entrants from Peru. On average, 250 individuals^ per year were diagnosed with smear-negative, culture-positive^ TB disease within 3 months of US entry; 46% of these were from^ the Philippines or Vietnam.^

By Andrew Stern CHICAGO (Reuters) - Thousands of immigrants arrive in the United States sick with tuberculosis or at risk for the contagious and deadly disease, which points to the need to improve efforts to find them, researchers said on Tuesday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta found the highest rates of tuberculosis among immigrants and refugees born in Sub-Saharan African countries including Somalia and Ethiopia; from Southeast Asia including Cambodia and Vietnam; and from parts of Latin America such as Peru.
ut they account for more than half of tuberculosis cases among those born outside the country, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.