Tuberculosis disparity between US-born blacks and whites, Houston, Texas, USA

Tuberculosis (TB) rates in the United States are disproportionately high for certain ethnic minorities. Using univariate and multivariate analyses, we compared data for 1,318 US-born blacks with 565 US-born non-Hispanic whites who participated in the Houston TB Initiative (1995-2004). All available Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates underwent susceptibility and genotype testing (insertion sequence 6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism, spoligotyping, and genetic grouping). TB in blacks was associated with younger age, inner city residence, HIV seropositivity, and drug resistance. TB cases clustered in 82% and 77% of blacks and whites, respectively (p = 0.46). Three clusters had >100 patients each, including 1 cluster with a predominance of blacks. Size of TB clusters was unexpectedly large, underscoring the ongoing transmission of TB in Houston, particularly among blacks.