REPORT FROM THE COMMITTEE OF THE JAPANESE SOCIETY FOR TUBERCULOSIS: A STUDY OF TUBERCULOSIS AMONG FOREIGNERS RESIDENT IN JAPAN, 2008 ─With

Japanese statistics of tuberculosis (TB) show a steady decline in the incidence of newly identified cases of tuberculosis. There were 19.4 new cases per 100,000 population in 2008 and it was the first year showed the rate dropped below 20 per 100,000 population. Nevertheless, it is still higher prevalence rate compared to that of other developed countries, with over 24,000 new patients developing TB disease every year, and Japan is still considered as a moderate prevalence nation1). The proportion of foreign residents with TB among all patients in Japan has been rising steadily and its number reached to 945 in 2008. Nearly 60% of foreigners with TB were from China, South Korea and the Philippines. Total of 70% of these cases were concentrated in the 20_39 age bracket. An analysis of therapeutic results for the cohort of new cases registered in 2007 showed many patients were transferred out withdrawing treatment, with some patients choosing to drop out or discontinue treatment in order to return home. As the foreign population in Japan is expected to increase in the future, it is inevitable that many foreigners enter from countries with a high prevalence of TB. We conducted a national survey with the aims of elucidating the problems that compel foreign residents to return to their home country partway through treatment, and social backgrounds in foreigners with TB returning home before completion of treatment. We also analyzed demographic difference and risk factors in foreign resident patient groups who underwent successful treatment, discontinued treatment and returned to their home country.