TB in Migrant Farmworkers

To the Editor. —The Office of Migrant Health, Department of Health and Human Services, estimates there to be more than 4 million migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the United States. Among other health problems, these workers suffer a significantly higher rate of tuberculosis (TB) infection compared with the general population. This also includes a high rate of asymptomatic TB, found to be 33% in Hispanic migrant workers in one typical study.1With a lifetime risk of 10% for developing active TB, it is understandable that this high-risk population constitutes one of the top priorities of the Advisory Council for Elimination of Tuberculosis, Department of Health and Human Services. In attempting to comply with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for TB screening,2our mobile migrant worker clinic in north central Ohio offered Mantoux tuberculin skin testing to farmworkers and their families from June through September 1993. Approximately