How common is TB, and who gets it?

Over 8 million new cases of TB occur each year worldwide. In the United States, it is estimated that 10-15 million people are infected with the TB bacteria and 22,000 new cases of TB occur each year.

Anyone can get TB, but certain people are at higher risk, including

• people who live with individuals who have an active TB infection,
  
• poor or homeless people,
  
• foreign-born people from countries that have a high prevalence of TB,
  
• nursing home residents and prison inmates,
  
• alcoholics and intravenous drug users,
  
• people with diabetes, certain cancers, and HIV infection (the AIDS virus), and
• health-care workers.
  

There is no strong evidence for a genetically determined (inherited) susceptibility for TB.