Tuberculosis morbidity--United States, 1997.

During 1997, a total of 19,855 cases of tuberculosis (TB) (7.4 cases per 100,000 population) were reported to CDC from the 50 states and the District of Columbia, representing a 7% decrease from 1996 and a 26% decrease from 1992, when the number of cases peaked during the resurgence of TB in the United States. This report summarizes national TB surveillance data for 1997 and compares it with similar data for previous years. The findings indicate that, although the overall number of TB cases continued to decrease, trends in the number of reported cases and TB case rates differed by geographic area and population characteristics.