Trends in tuberculosis--United States, 2010.

In 2010, a total of 11,181 tuberculosis (TB) cases were reported in the United States, for a rate of 3.6 cases per 100,000 population, which was a decline of 3.9% from 2009 and the lowest rate recorded since national reporting began in 1953. This report summarizes provisional 2010 data from the National TB Surveillance System and describes trends since 1993. Despite an average decline in TB rates of 3.8% per year during 2000-2008, a record decline of 11.4% in 2009, and the 2010 decline of 3.9%, the national goal of TB elimination (defined as <0.1 case per 100,000 population) by 2010 was not met. Although TB cases and rates decreased among foreign-born and U.S.-born persons, foreign-born persons and racial/ethnic minorities were affected disproportionately by TB in the United States. In 2010, the TB rate among foreign-born persons in the United States was 11 times greater than among U.S.-born persons. TB rates among Hispanics, non-Hispanic blacks, and Asians were seven, eight, and 25 times greater, respectively, than among non-Hispanic whites. Among U.S.-born racial and ethnic groups, the greatest racial disparity in TB rates was for non-Hispanic blacks, whose rate was seven times greater than the rate for non-Hispanic whites. Progress toward TB elimination in the United States will require ongoing surveillance and improved TB control and prevention activities to address persistent disparities between U.S.-born and foreign-born persons and between whites and minorities.