By Philip Newman
Tuberculosis cases rose slightly in New York City last year with Queens reporting the second-highest increase in the city, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported.
Although low, the rate of TB cases in New York City is nearly three times the national level, the Health Department said.
“While city TB cases remain near historic lows, 2003 marked the first rise in new TB cases in more than a decade,” the Health Department report said. It attributed the rise in cases of the disease to a global epidemic.
Queens had 331 new cases in 2003 with only Brooklyn reporting more at 362, the Health Department said. Queens had a case rate per 100,000 persons of 14.8 with Brooklyn at 14.7.
Manhattan reported 240 new cases with a 15.8 case rate, the Bronx had 178 new cases and a case rate of 13.4 and Staten Island had 29 new cases and a rate of 6.5.
Citywide there were 1,140 new cases in 2003, a 5 percent increase, with a case rate of 14.2.
“The increase in the number of cases among foreign-born persons demonstrates that the fight against TB must be waged on two fronts — locally and globally,” said Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden.
“New Yorkers at highest risk — particularly those in the city’s immigrant communities — should get screened and treated, for TB is a preventable and curable disease and we provide TB services for free and regardless of immigration status,” Frieden said.
The report said tuberculosis cases among U.S.-born people decreased in comparison with those in 2002. However, there was an increase in cases among the homeless and what the Health Department called the “unstably housed” from 49 cases in 2002 to 86 cases in 2003.
In 2003, 67 percent of new TB cases in New York City were among foreign-born people, compared with 18 percent in 1992. The number of foreign-born people with TB also increased from 700 in 2002 to 771 in 2003.
The greatest number of TB cases in the foreign-born was among those from China (including Taiwan, Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China), Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, India and Mexico.
The report said non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics and Asians together accounted for more than 90 percent of the city’s 1,140 new TB cases in 2003.
Frieden said New York City uses what he called pioneering techniques in TB prevention and control.
“However, globally, tuberculosis remains a leading killer and case rates in New York City remain almost three times that of the national rate.”
Tuberculosis is usually spread in an enclosed space by breathing bacteria in air that is contaminated by someone with active TB disease in the lungs. It is not spread through casual contact and cannot be spread from sharing objects such as utensils or drinking glasses.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control lists tuberculosis as the second worst killer worldwide, causing more than 2 million deaths annually.
Reach contributing writer Philip Newman at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 136.
