The Epidemiology of Tuberculosis in San Francisco -- A Population-Based Study Using Conventional and Molecular Methods

Tuberculosis and its recent resurgence are predominantly urban phenomena in the United States, where case rates in large cities are almost two and a half times higher than the national average 1 . A combination of biologic and social factors has been postulated to account for this situation. In many cities, the number of persons who are immunosuppressed by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis have increased in the face of deteriorating socioeconomic conditions and public systems of health care delivery 2 . As a result, important changes seem to have occurred in the patterns . . .