RESEARCH ARTICLE Active pulmonary tubercu

TB cases occur in developing countries [1]. In industrialized as advanced disease with poor outcomes [5]. Studies sug-Lee et al. BMC Public Health 2013, 13:720 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/13/720on the burden and impact of TB in homeless people inJongno-gu 110-744, Republic of Korea Full list of author information is available at the end of the articlecountries, TB is decreasing and the majority of TB cases occur in minority groups, including migrants, refugees, and itinerant people [2]. Homeless people are also at high risk for TB because of poor nutrition, alcohol consumption, and tobacco smoking [3]. Their unsafe housing conditions where TB organisms may be spread through insufficient air exchange also con-tributes on the occurrence of TB [4]. In many gest that the majority of urban homeless TB cases are attributable to ongoing transmission of TB in developing countries, and recommendations call for tailored programs to address TB in these high-risk groups [6]. However, although several studies [5,7-10] have reported the prevalence rate of TB among homeless people, prior studies rarely compared the prevalence rates of both active and latent TB infection among homeless people to that of a control group or the general population. Rather, there is a report showing no statistically significant difference in pulmonary TB between homeless people and general population [11]. Additionally, there is no repor