Trends in tuberculosis morbidity--United States, 1992-2002

During 2002, a total of 15,078 TB cases were reported to CDC, representing a 5.7% decline from 2001, a 43.5% decline from the 1992 peak of the TB resurgence, and the lowest recorded TB rate in the United States since reporting began in 1953. Declines have occurred since 1992 in all age groups, racial/ethnic populations, and regions of the United States. Despite this progress, the 2002 rate of 5.2 per 100,000 population remained higher than the 2000 interim goal of 3.5 set as part of the national strategic plan for TB elimination (<1 case per 1,000,000 by 2010). This report summarizes data from the national TB surveillance system for 2002 and describes trends over the past decade. Overall national declines in TB incidence mask substantial disparities between rates in the majority of U.S. residents and rates in the two populations, foreign-born persons and U.S.-born non-Hispanic blacks, which now account for approximately three fourths of TB cases. Further progress toward TB elimination in the United States will depend on 1) domestic programs that provide services to foreign-born persons with latent TB infection, 2) collaborative efforts that reduce the burden of TB disease globally, and 3) intensified TB-control efforts that address higher TB rates in the U.S.-born non-Hispanic black population.