Indicator Profile of Tuberculosis Cases

Why Is This Important?

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by a type of bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria usually attack the lungs but may attack any part of the body. TB is typically spread through the air when a person with TB disease of the lungs or throat expels tiny airborne particles (droplet nuclei). People nearby may breathe in these particles and become infected. People who have latent TB infection do not feel sick, do not have any symptoms, and cannot spread TB. But they may develop active TB disease at some time in the future. The U.S. experienced a resurgence of TB disease between 1985 and 1992, when the number of TB cases increased by 20%. Early detection and treatment of TB are essential to control the spread of the disease and to prevent outbreaks.

People who are at a high risk of developing TB disease include:
- individuals with HIV or AIDS
- individuals who were infected with TB within the last two years
- babies and young children
- substance abusers (especially IV-drug users)
- individuals with chronic illnesses that weaken the immune system
- individuals who were not properly treated for TB in the past

Number of Tuberculosis Cases per 100,000 Population, Utah and U.S., 1990-2007

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View Graph Values

Data Sources

Bureau of Communicable Disease Control, Utah Department of Health;  National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 

Other Views


Definition

Rate: Number of cases of tuberculosis per 100,000 population.
Number: Number of tuberculosis cases.

How We Calculated the Rates

Numerator: Rate/Number: Number of tuberculosis cases.
Denominator: Rate: Number of persons in the population. Number: Not applicable.

Page Content Updated On 03/31/08, Published on 04/01/08
Tuberculosis Control and Refugee Health Program, Office of Communicable Disease Control, Division of Epidemiology and Laboratory Services, Utah Department of Health, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-2105, Telephone: 801-538-6096, Fax: 801-538-9913, Website: http://www.health.utah.gov/els/hivaids/tb/tbrefugee.html, Contact: Cristie Chesler, Program Manager; Jerry Carlile, Epidemiologist, Email: cchesler@utah.gov, jcarlile@utah.gov
The information provided above is from the Utah Department of Health's Center for Health Data IBIS-PH web site (http://ibis.health.utah.gov). The information published on this website may be reproduced without permission. Please use the following citation: "Retrieved Thu, 07 August 2008 18:53:05 from Utah Department of Health, Center for Health Data, Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health Web site: http://ibis.health.utah.gov".

Content updated: Tue, 1 Apr 2008 13:56:18 MDT