Washington, D.C.- During the year 2006 over half of the tuberculosis cases in the United States were from individuals that were foreign born.

Foreign Born Individuals Are At Greater Risk In The USA

Washington, D.C.- During the year 2006 over half of the tuberculosis cases in the United States were from individuals that were foreign born.

Immigrants appear to be more likely to contract or come in contact with TB than the general population, according to recent research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC has examined cases of TB between 1993 and 2006, and it has discovered that while the amount of cases among Americans has decreased, the number of TB cases among the immigrant and foreign born in the United States has actually slightly increased.

“US Born individuals have been infected with TB less and less, 66 percent less in 2006 than in 1993, while the numbers of cases among foreign born individuals in the United States actually increased by 5 percent,” said Dr. Kevin P. Cain.

Dr. Cain is the author of the recent CDC study, which is being published in the July 23rd issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The new Study actually points to the different in infection rates between the two groups, and it is not known exactly why the disparity exists.