Transmission trends for human immunodeficiency virus associated tuberculosis in New York City.

SETTING

Since 1992, tuberculosis (TB) control measures have reduced incidence rates in New York City and elsewhere. Nevertheless, trends have not been uniform in all demographic groups.

OBJECTIVE

To characterize the epidemiology of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) associated TB in New York during the 1990s, we analyzed social, demographic and clinical characteristics and genetic data on Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates among persons with known HIV-status.

DESIGN

A retrospective case-control study to compare patients with HIV-associated TB and patients with TB alone.

RESULTS

Of 546 patients (70.5%) in the Department of Health Tuberculosis Control Registry treated for TB, 385 also had documented HIV status; 198 were HIV-infected (51%) and 187 (49%) were not. Genotype analysis of the 385 M. tuberculosis isolates identified 200 (52%) clustered strains, representing recent transmission. Although the overall percentage of TB cases associated with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) clustering fell over the period studied, HIV-associated cases were still much more likely to be associated with clustering than non-HIV-associated cases.

CONCLUSIONS

Continued attention is required to contain the spread of TB in this vulnerable population.