Health agency spotlights tuberculosis problem

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.

The researchers suggested improving screening efforts among emigrants coming from high-risk countries -- who accounted for 4,035 TB cases in the United States in 2006 -- before they depart. The alternative is to test and treat them soon after they arrive.

"Our goal should be address this serious health concern in the communities that need it the most," said Dr. Kevin Cain, who conducted the study with colleagues at the CDC. "As long as TB is out of control globally it will be a problem for the United States."

Progress made against the disease cut the number of U.S. cases in half between 1993 and 2006. But U.S. cases among foreign-born persons rose 5 percent during the period and they accounted for 57 percent of all U.S. cases in 2006.

Twenty-two percent of the 37 million foreign-born people in the United States came from sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, but 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.

Most TB cases develop within the first two years of entry into the country, but the disease can show up decades later.

The scale of the problem is enormous, Cain said.