The July 22 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study according to which although tuberculosis is diagnosed less frequently in the United States than before, the number of cases associated with immigrant population is still increasing. While people who come to the United States from certain regions of the world are unlikely to suffer from TB, immigrants from other regions present an extremely high risk at developing the disease.

Even though the number of TB cases among American born individuals has diminished with 66 percent, an increase of 5 percent in cases associated with immigrant population has been discovered in 2006, compared to 1993. Each year, 250 people that immigrate in the US are diagnosed with the disease within 2 years from the moment they lay foot on the American ground.

The populations that present the highest risks are the Sub-Saharan African and the Southeast Asian ones. Even though immigrants from this areas represent less that 25 percent of the people who come to live in the US, they also account for half of the cases of diagnosed tuberculosis. Canadians, Europeans and Australians that immigrate in the US are accountable for only 2 percent each.

The situation could be resolved if people who want to immigrate in the US from countries that are known to have problems with the disease would undergo more conclusive tests. Even though these tests are more expensive than the ones that are carried out now, it would be enough for them to be compulsory only in those regions that present the highest risks.