The number of TB cases in Washington rose by 21 percent over 1999 rates and in Northern Virginia the number was up 5 percent. These figures are indicative of the further growth of social inequality in the DC area. Washington is home to some of the most wealthy politicians, media figures and their hangers-on. But only blocks from the White House and the Capitol are some of the most devastated neighborhoods in the country, where working class and poor residents face record levels of poverty, infant mortality and HIV infection. Added to this now is an increase of tuberculosis, a disease which has been on the decline in most parts of the United States for decades.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease that attacks the lungs.
It is the top infectious disease in the world and has been on the rise worldwide in recent years. In the US, however, rates of infection have been steadily dropping since the 1950s. TB cases were down 6.6 percent last year from 1999. But among newly arrived immigrants the disease has been on the increase. The growth of TB cases in the DC area has been attributed to the influx of immigrants in recent years from African, Southeast Asian and Latin American countries.