Volume 17, Number 3—March 2011
Research
Active Tuberculosis among Homeless Persons, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1998–2007
Kamran Khan
, Elizabeth Rea, Cameron McDermaid, Rebecca Stuart, Catharine Chambers, Jun Wang, Angie Chan, Michael Gardam, Frances Jamieson, Jae Yang, and Stephen W. Hwang
, Elizabeth Rea, Cameron McDermaid, Rebecca Stuart, Catharine Chambers, Jun Wang, Angie Chan, Michael Gardam, Frances Jamieson, Jae Yang, and Stephen W. HwangTable 5
Characteristics of isolates from 91 homeless persons with tuberculosis, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1998–2007*
| Characteristic | Culture-confirmed case, no. (%) | Canada-born, no. (%) | Foreign born, no. (%) | p value† | 1998–2002, no. (%) | 2003–2007, no. (%) | p value‡ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RFLP type | <0.001 | 0.13 | |||||
| Strain A | 32 (48) | 25 (52) | 6 (38) | 17 (59) | 15 (41) | ||
| Strain B | 8 (12) | 7 (15) | 1 (6) | 3 (10) | 5 (14) | ||
| Strain C | 7 (11) | 7 (15) | 0 | 5 (17) | 2 (5) | ||
| Strain D | 3 (5) | 3 (6) | 0 | 0 | 3 (8) | ||
| Other strain | 16 (24) | 6 (13) | 9 (56) | 4 (14) | 12 (32) | ||
| Not tested |
20 |
7 |
12 |
11 |
9 |
||
| Antimicrobial drug resistance | 1.00 | 0.21 | |||||
| No | 84 (98) | 54 (98) | 27 (96) | 38 (95) | 46 (100) | ||
| Yes§ | 2 (2) | 1 (2) | 1 (4) | 2 (5) | 0 |
*Birthplace information available for 88 persons. RFLP, restriction fragment-length polymorphism.
†Probability of a significant difference between Canada-born and foreign-born persons for each variable; calculated by using the 2-sided Fisher exact test or χ2 test, as appropriate.
‡Probability of a significant difference between the 2 periods for each variable; calculated by using the 2-sided Fisher exact test or χ2 test, as appropriate.
§Represents 1 Canada-born person whose isolate was resistant to ethambutol only and 1 foreign-born case whose isolate was resistant to isoniazid only.
