ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To describe the epidemiology of foreign-born tuberculosis (TB) cases in Los Angeles County and to evaluate current TB screening and follow-up of immigrants and refugees (I&R) to the USA. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of the Los Angeles County TB registry between October 1992 and December 1994. We matched all cases who entered the USA during fiscal year 1993 (FY93) with a database from the tracking system of I&R with suspected TB. RESULTS: Foreign-born persons accounted for 64% of all reported TB cases. Half were born in Mexico or Central America. Standardized incidence rates were 3-5 times higher than those of US-born persons for Mexicans and Central Americans, 6-7 times higher for North-east Asians, and 10-15 times higher for South-east Asians. Among foreign-born cases who arrived during FY93, 5% of the Mexicans and Central Americans, 48% of the North-east Asians and 67% of the South-east Asians were registered by the tracking system. CONCLUSION: Mexicans and Central Americans accounted for the majority of cases but had a lower incidence of TB than Asians. The current screening procedures identify a large proportion of cases among recently arrived South-east Asians, but contribute little to the control of TB among Mexicans and Central Americans.
Subject(s)
Emigration and Immigration , Tuberculosis/epidemiology , Adolescent , Adult , Age Distribution , Aged , Asia, Southeastern/ethnology , Central America/ethnology , Child , Child, Preschool , Asia, Eastern/ethnology , Humans , Incidence , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Los Angeles/epidemiology , Mexico/ethnology , Middle Aged , Refugees , Registries , Retrospective Studies , Time Factors , Tuberculosis/diagnosisABSTRACT
Previous work has shown that infants make the Piagetian stage IV error when the object is covered by a transparent occluder. However, it is not clear whether this happens because nine-month-old infants' failure to understand the identity of hidden objects extends to visible objects, or whether they are puzzled by object relationships involving transparency. Nine-month-old infants were presented with one of three different stage IV tasks in which the object was visible and uncovered at the second location. Stage IV errors were obtained with the object visible, but only when a covered place was provided at the first location. It is concluded that this result is stronger evidence that the stage IV error is not simply a hidden-object phenomenon, and that it may be best explained by taking account of infants' functional place knowledge, as well as their knowledge of object identity.
