title: Outbreak of tuberculosis among Guatemalan immigrants in rural Minnesota, 2008.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We described the outbreak investigation and control measures after the Minnesota Department of Health identified a cluster of tuberculosis (TB) cases among Guatemalan immigrants within three rural Minnesota counties in August 2008.
  
  
  METHODS
  TB cases were diagnosed by tuberculin skin test followed by chest radiography and sputum testing for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). We reviewed medical records, interviewed patients, and completed a contact investigation for each infectious case. We used isolate genotyping to confirm epidemiologic links between cases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The index case was a six-month-old U.S.-born male with Guatemalan parents. Although he experienced four months of cough and fever, TB was not considered at two medical visits but was diagnosed upon hospitalization in May 2008. The presumed source of infection was a Guatemalan male aged 25 years who sang in a band that practiced in the infant's house and whose pulmonary TB was diagnosed at hospitalization in June 2008, despite his having sought medical attention for symptoms seven months earlier. Among the 16 identified TB cases, 14 were outbreak-related. Three genetically distinct M. tuberculosis strains circulated. Of 150 contacts of the singer, 62 (41%) had latent TB infection and 13 (9%), including 10 children, had TB disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this outbreak, delayed diagnoses contributed to M. tuberculosis transmission. Isolate genotyping corroborated the social links between outbreak-related patients. More timely diagnosis of TB among immigrants and their children can prevent TB transmission among communities in rural, low-incidence areas that might have limited resources for contact investigations.
authors: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Epidemic Intelligence Service, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA. SGL6@cdc.gov
authors: Sara A
authors: SA
authors: Lowther
authors: Roque
authors: R
authors: Miramontes
authors: Barbara
authors: B
authors: Navara
authors: Nadya
authors: N
authors: Sabuwala
authors: Milayna
authors: M
authors: Brueshaber
authors: Sarah
authors: S
authors: Solarz
authors: Maryam B
authors: MB
authors: Haddad
authors: Deborah
authors: D
authors: Sodt
authors: Ruth
authors: R
authors: Lynfield
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods*; D016358:Contact Tracing; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D006166:Guatemala / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008910:Minnesota / Q000453:epidemiology; D012424:Rural Population; D014374:Tuberculin Test; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control