The Incidence of Tuberculosis Among Low Income People

11 Pages 2762 Words

ection, and the incidence of TB among the foreign-born. Alan Block et al. (1996) have done an excellent exploratory study of this theme, entitled ‘The need for epidemic intelligence’. The study sends the powerful message to a U.S. audience of the importance of further research into the implications of race and social class in areas like urban health policy. This is particularly true in cases of the emergence of a multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB).
Some work has also been done on the regional variations of TB in the United States that is of great value for studies like this one. For instance, Subroto Baerji et al. (1996) have researched and written a study entitled ‘Tuberculosis in San Diego County: a border community perspective’, which takes into consideration a population in transition and the effects on the incidence of TB in that district. Pappas Dievler (1999) has done a similar investigation of Washington D.C., specializing in the HIV/AIDS angle and the implications of social class and race for urban public health policy making.
Some interesting work has also been done on the epidemiology of TB in low-income areas. A.R. Lifson et al. (1999) have done a study called ‘Tuberculin skin testing among economically disadvantaged youth in a federally-funded job training program.’ For this study, the valuable aspect of Lifson et al.’s paper was the following finding: that differences in geographic region of residence were not significant after adjusting for other factors. This has implications for the importance of screening groups at risk for tuberculous infection, as well as for public health policy and services offered in high-risk areas.
It has also proven useful to investigate international cases wherein race and class factor in. N. Andersson’s study ‘Tuberculosis and social stratification in South Africa’ (1990), suggests that poverty, race and the incidence of tuberculosis were a glob...