• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Concerns persist over tuberculosis threat

Infection Control Monitor, July 25, 2008

Concerns over the spread of tuberculosis (TB) made news this week.

On July 21 the World Health Organization (WHO) urged Asian countries to take action against the growing threat of drug-resistant TB and warned that, if they failed to act, even more virulent forms of the disease could spread. The Associated Press quoted WHO officials saying many Asian countries lack adequate laboratory facilities to detect multi-drug resistant TB and only 1% of the estimated 150,000 people infected with the disease in East Asia and the Pacific are receiving appropriate treatment.

A new study also looked at cases of TB in foreign-born persons entering the United States. While TB cases continue to decrease in the United States, some immigrant populations have high rates of the disease, according to a study published July 23 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Foreign-born people accounted for 57% of all TB cases in the United States in 2006, researchers said, with rates highest among residents from countries of sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Southeast Asia. To read more, click here.

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive