Tuesday is world TB Day: most cases in US arise in refugee and immigrant communities
This is an article from Washington state where they say their TB rate has dropped slightly in the last year.
From the Bonney Lake Courier Herald:
Washington has had a slight decline in tuberculosis (TB) cases in 2014 but state and local public health officials are still on high alert when it comes to this disease. TB is second only to HIV/AIDS as the greatest infectious killer worldwide.
[….]
“Tuberculosis remains a disease of concern internationally and in Washington,” State Communicable Disease Epidemiologist Dr. Scott Lindquist said. “TB can be diagnosed, treated, and cured, yet it takes real commitment and effort to effectively deal with this disease.”
[….]
Drug-resistant TB continues to be a serious public health threat in Washington. This variation requires longer treatment periods with drugs that are more expensive. In 2014, 20 cases reported to the state health department were resistant to one or more drugs currently used as a first line of treatment for TB; two were multi-drug resistant. Infection control procedures must be in place in hospitals or health care settings to prevent exposure to this disease and keep it from spreading.
TB rates are often higher among racial and ethnic groups. In 2014, 72.5 percent of cases in the state were in people born outside the U.S. or its territories. In 2014, 43.5 percent of all cases in Washington were among Asians, followed by Hispanics (15.5 percent), blacks (15.5 percent), and whites (11.9 percent). Between 2012 and 2014 the greatest risk of TB in Washington was among Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander communities (27.7 cases per 100,000).
27 students and teachers have tested positive for TB in one Kansas City, MO high school. No word on who Patient Zero might be, see the story here.
See our health issues category, here, for more on refugee physical and mental health problems.
Posts
