In 2007, a total of 13,293 cases of tuberculosis (TB) were reported in the United States. The TB rate declined 4.2% from 2006 to 4.4 cases per 100,000-population. The TB incidence rate in 2007 was the lowest recorded since national reporting began in 1953. Despite this overall improvement, progress has slowed in recent years; the average annual percentage decline in the TB rate slowed from 7.3% per year during 1993 to 2000 to 3.7% during 2000 to 2007. Foreign-born persons and racial/ethnic minorities continued to bear a disproportionate burden of TB disease in the US. In 2007, the TB rate in foreign-born persons in the US was 9.7 times higher than in US-born persons. The proportion of TB cases contributed by foreign-born persons has increased each year since 1993. Multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB remains a threat, and extensively drug-resistant TB has become an emerging threat. A total of 116 cases of MDR TB were reported in 2006, the most recent year for which complete drug-susceptibility data are available. Worldwide, TB remains one of the leading causes of death from infectious disease. An estimated 2 billion persons (ie, one third of the world’s populations are infected with M. tuberculosis. In 2005, approximately 8.8 million persons became ill from TB, and 1.6 million died from the disease.
(Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, March 21, 2008)
