Tuberculosis Rates Dropping

(March 23, 2008) - There is good news in the battle against tuberculosis. (Read about "Tuberculosis") The incidence rate, that's the number of cases per 100,000 people, was the lowest last year since national reporting began in 1953.

In 2007, a total of 13,293 tuberculosis (TB) cases were reported in the United States. The TB rate declined 4.2 percent from 2006 to 4.4 cases per 100,000 population.

Despite this overall improvement, progress has slowed in recent years; the average annual percentage decline in the TB rate slowed from 7.3 percent per year during 1993 - 2000 to 3.8 percent during 2000 - 2007.

While the overall rate is going down some groups suffer more. In 2007, the TB rate in foreign-born persons in the United States was 9.7 times higher than in U.S.-born persons. TB rates among Hispanics, blacks, and Asians were 7.4, 8.3, and 22.9 times higher than among non-Hispanic whites. In 2007, foreign-born persons accounted for a majority of TB cases among Hispanics (77.2 percent [2,942 of 3,812]) and among Asians (96.1 percent [3,261 of 3,393]), whereas U.S.-born persons accounted for a majority of TB cases among blacks (71.2 percent [2,439 of 3,427]). Among U.S.-born racial and ethnic groups, the greatest disparity in TB rates was for U.S.-born blacks, whose rate remained nearly eight times that of U.S.-born whites.