Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 159, Number 4, April 1999, 1081-1086

Foci of Tuberculosis Transmission in Central Los Angeles

PETER F. BARNES, ZHENHUA YANG, JANICE M. POGODA, SUSAN PRESTON-MARTIN, BRENDA E. JONES, MICHIKO OTAYA, LAURA KNOWLES, SYDNEY HARVEY, KATHLEEN D. EISENACH, and M. DONALD CAVE

Center for Pulmonary and Infectious Disease Control, Departments of Cell Biology and Medicine, University of Texas Health Center at Tyler, Tyler, Texas; Departments of Pathology and Anatomy, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital, Little Rock, Arkansas; Statology, Truckee; Departments of Preventive Medicine and Medicine, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles, County of Los Angeles Department of Health Services Tuberculosis Control Program; and Los Angeles County Public Health Laboratory, Los Angeles, California

To identify sites of tuberculosis transmission and to determine the contribution of HIV-infected patients to tuberculosis morbidity in an urban area, we prospectively evaluated 249 patients with culture-proven tuberculosis in central Los Angeles. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis was performed on Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates to identify patients infected with the same strain. Using RFLP and clinical and epidemiologic data, we identified the most likely source case and site of transmission for 79 patients. Homelessness, birth in the United States and Native American ethnicity were independent predictors of being a source case, but HIV infection was not. Three homeless shelters were sites of tuberculosis transmission for 55 (70%) of the 79 patients. HIV-infected patients constituted 27% (66/249) of the study population, but only 17% (13/79) of patients were infected by an HIV-infected source case. We conclude that transmission of tuberculosis in central Los Angeles was highly focal, and that the major transmission sites were three homeless shelters. HIV- infected tuberculosis patients did not play a major role in spread of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis control measures targeted at specific homeless shelters can reduce tuberculosis morbidity in urban areas where homelessness is common and the incidence of tuberculosis is high.

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