While new cases of active tuberculosis are on the decline in New York City, immigrant communities continue to be disproportionately affected, accounting for 70 percent of new cases, health officials said Wednesday.
"Tuberculosis can be both prevented and cured," Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden said. "We've made significant progress in reducing the risk of this disease in New York, and in controlling the drug-resistant strains. But New York City's TB rate is still double the rate of the nation, and we have much to do to lessen the impact on foreign-born New Yorkers."
The Health Department said 954 cases of TB were identified in 2006, down 3 percent from the previous year. Of that number, multi-drug resistant TB accounted for 21 cases, it said.
Last year, foreign-born New Yorkers accounted for 672 new diagnoses, 3 percent lower than in 2005. Although on the decline, the rate among New York's immigrant community is more than five times the citywide average for U.S.-born residents and more than six times the national rate, the Health Department said.
Of the city's five boroughs, Queens and Brooklyn, which have the largest number of foreign-born residents, had the highest number of TB cases, it said.
The Health Department also announced that it has started to use a new blood-based screening test for TB infection called QuantiFERON-TB Gold. The test has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"The QuantiFERON test is much more specific than the skin test and much less likely to return a false positive," said Dr. Sonal Munsiff, assistant commissioner of the Bureau of Tuberculosis Control. "With this new test, we hope to detect and treat TB early to stop the spread among our immigrant populations."
Tuberculosis is preventable and curable. People with active TB can spread the infection through coughing, but not through sharing such objects as utensils or drinking glasses.
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On the Net:
City Health Department: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/tb/tb.shtml.