Associated Press
When the Somali refugee walked into the health department of an Emporia meatpacking plant earlier this month suffering from active tuberculosis, he became the latest entry in government health statistics -- 62 percent of active TB cases reported in Kansas last year involved immigrants.
"That is actually a national trend over the last several years," said Phil Griffin, director of the Kansas Tuberculosis Control Program.
For four consecutive years, immigrants have accounted for more than half of active TB cases in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2005, the latest year for which national data was available, foreign-born residents accounted for 55 percent of TB cases nationwide. Immigrants are infected at a rate nearly nine times higher than the native population.
Posted by Richard at January 27, 2007