MMWR: Trends in Tuberculosis – United States, 2012

This report summarizes provisional TB surveillance data reported to CDC’s National Tuberculosis Surveillance System in 2012. A total of 9,951 new TB cases were reported for an incidence of 3.2 cases per 100,000 population, which is a decrease of 6.1 percent from the incidence in 2011. TB incidence rate among foreign-born persons in the United States was 11.5 times as high as in US-born persons. Also, racial/ethnic disparities in TB incidence persist with TB rates among non-Hispanic Asians, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic blacks were 25.0, 6.6, and 7.3 times as high respectively. The number of TB cases dropped below 10,000 for the first time since standardized national reporting began in 1953, but there are challenges that slow progress toward the goal of TB elimination in the United States.