ted each year in the United States, the number of new cases reported began a slower but steady increase in 1985 (Conspicuous consumption, 1993, p. 6). Growth in new cases of tuberculosis is particularly strong in the poorer sections of the nation's larger cities (Landesman, 1993, pp. 766 768). Tuberculosis is also a significant risk for HIV infected (human immuno virus) persons (Landesman, 1993, pp. 766 768). Approximately 40 percent of those persons infected with tuberculosis in New York City are also infected with HIV (Goldsmith, 1993, pp. 187 189).
While tuberculosis is contagious, the disease is not easily contracted through casual and infrequent contact with infected individuals (Conspicuous consumption, 1993, pp. 6 7). Lengthy and repeated contact with an individual infected with tuberculosis is required to produce a tuberculosis infection, particularly among individuals whose immune function is impaired. The conditions required for tuberculosis infection, unfortunately, frequently are found among the
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