Tuberculosis Annual Report 2011--(1) Summary of tuberculosis notification statistics and tuberculosis in foreign nationals

The Tuberculosis Surveillance Center (TSC) at the Research Institute of Tuberculosis has published a series of annual reports on tuberculosis (TB) statistics in Japan since 2008. These reports are based on information on the nationwide computerized TB surveillance system database, which has been in operation since 1987. This is the first of a new series of reports for the "TB Annual Report 2011" that includes a summary of TB statistics and an overview of TB cases with foreign nationality in 2011. A total of 22,681 cases with all types of TB were notified in 2011 with a notification rate of 17.7 per 100,000 population. The TB notification rates decreased to less than 20 per 100,000 population in 2007 and continued to decline until 2011. A total of 8,654 sputum-smear positive pulmonary TB were notified in 2011, at a rate of 6.8 per 100,000 population. The number of latent TB infection (LTBI) cases requiring prophylactic treatment drastically increased from 4,930 cases in 2010 to 10,046 cases in 2011. Surveillance data on TB cases with foreign nationality in Japan have been collected since 1998. The number of TB cases with foreign nationality increased from 739 in 1998 to 931 in 2004 but has been stagnated since then, that indicated 921 in 2011. The TB cases with foreign nationality accounted for 2.1 % of all new TB cases in 1998, and this percentage increased to 4.1% in 2011. Of note, new TB cases with foreign nationality aged 20-29 years accounted for 30.0% of all new TB cases among the same age group in 2011. Among the TB cases with foreign nationality, more than half were from China (29.6%) and the Philippines (23.7%) taken together. In most cases, foreign nationals developed TB within 5 years of entry into Japan, including 80.0% of those aged 10-19 years and 80.8% of those aged 20-29 years. Of these TB cases with foreign nationality, 27% were noted in full-time employees, followed by unemployed persons (21%) and students (20%). With an increase in the number of immigrants into Japan, the proportion of TB cases with foreign nationality is expected to increase, particularly among young adults and those from countries with a high burden of TB.