Trends in tuberculosis - United States, 2011.

In 2011, a total of 10,521 new tuberculosis (TB) cases were reported in the United States, an incidence of 3.4 cases per 100,000 population, which is 6.4% lower than the rate in 2010. This is the lowest rate recorded since national reporting began in 1953. The percentage decline is greater than the average 3.8% decline per year observed from 2000 to 2008 but not as large as the record decline of 11.4% from 2008 to 2009. This report summarizes 2011 TB surveillance data reported to CDC's National Tuberculosis Surveillance System. Although TB cases and rates decreased among foreign-born and U.S.-born persons, foreign-born persons and racial/ethnic minorities continue to be affected disproportionately. The rate of incident TB cases (representing new infection and reactivation of latent infection) among foreign-born persons in the United States was 12 times greater than among U.S.-born persons. For the first time since the current reporting system began in 1993, non-Hispanic Asians surpassed persons of Hispanic ethnicity as the largest racial/ethnic group among TB patients in 2011. Compared with non-Hispanic whites, the TB rate among non-Hispanic Asians was 25 times greater, and rates among non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics were eight and seven times greater, respectively. Among U.S.-born racial and ethnic groups, the greatest racial disparity in TB rates occurred among non-Hispanic blacks, whose rate was six times the rate for non-Hispanic whites. The need for continued awareness and surveillance of TB persists despite the continued decline in U.S. TB cases and rates. Initiatives to improve awareness, testing, and treatment of latent infection and TB disease in minorities and foreign-born populations might facilitate progress toward the elimination of TB in the United States.