43 Percent Latent TB Rates Among Refugees Interviewed for Jobs at Starbucks

Recent arrivals from Somalia and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa were among the refugees interviewed for possible jobs by 30 Starbucks managers at a hiring event in El Cajon, California on Tuesday as part of the company’s commitment to hire 10,000 refugees over the next five years.

The latent tuberculosis (TB) rate of 43 percent among refugees in San Diego County from sub-Saharan Africa is more than ten times greater than the latent TB rate of 4 percent found in the general population, according to a 2013 study from a research team led by Dr. Timothy Rodwell, “an associate professor and physician in the Division of Global Health at UCSD [University of California at San Diego].”

Rodwell’s study “analyzed data from LTBI [latent tuberculosis infection] screening results of 4,280 refugees resettled in San Diego County between January 2010 and October 2012,” and found that “[t]he prevalence of LTBI was highest among refugees from sub-Saharan Africa (43%) and was associated with current smoking and having a clinical co-morbidity that increases the risk for active tuberculosis. Although refugees from sub-Saharan Africa had the highest prevalence of infection, they were significantly less likely to initiate treatment than refugees from the Middle East.”

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