Risk Factors for Tuberculosis (TB) Cases

Risk Factors

About 10% of persons with tuberculosis (TB) infection who have normal immune systems will develop TB disease at some point in life. Certain conditions increase the odds that infection will progress to active disease, including: *HIV infection *recent exposure (within the past two years), particularly children <5 years of age *certain medical conditions: silicosis, gastrectomy, low body weight (>=10% below ideal), chronic renal failure/dialysis, diabetes mellitus, organ transplant, carcinoma of head or neck, or high-dose corticosteroid therapy *illicit injection drug use or other high-risk substance abuse (e.g., crack cocaine) *a history of inadequately treated TB. [[br]] [[br]] HIV infection is the strongest risk factor for progression of TB infection to TB disease. For people infected with TB and HIV, the risk of developing TB disease is about 7% to 10% per year. During the years 2019-2023, about 2.2% of persons with TB in Utah were co-infected with HIV. This is lower than the 4.7% of persons with TB in the United States in 2022 for whom test results were available who were co-infected with HIV (CDC. ''Tuberculosis - United States, 2022'', 2023).