WA tuberculosis cases up 11 percent in 2007

01:40 PM PDT on Thursday, March 20, 2008

Associated Press

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Eleven percent more Washington residents had tuberculosis in 2007 than during the previous year.

Most of Washington's counties had 10 or fewer cases of the respiratory illness in 2007. King County had more than half the cases reported in the state.

Foreign-born immigrants and refugees from countries with high rates of tuberculosis make up three quarters of the cases. A total of 291 Washington residents had tuberculosis in during 2007, compared to 262 cases in 2006.

A new strain of drug-resistant tuberculosis remains rare in Washington. Only two cases were found in Washington in 2007.

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