DOES FEAR OF IMMIGRATION AUTHORITIES DETER TUBERCULOSIS PATIENTS FROMSEEKING CARE

Physician groups are concerned that legislation requiring physicians t o report illegal immigrants to immigration authorities will delay cura tive care. In particular, patients with tuberculosis may delay seeking care for infectious symptoms and spread the disease. We surveyed 313 consecutive patients with active tuberculosis from 95 different facili ties to examine the relationship of immigration-related variables, sym ptoms, and delay in seeking care. Most patients (71%) sought care for symptoms rather than as a result of the efforts of public health perso nnel to screen high-risk groups or to trace contacts of infectious per sons. At least 20% of respondents lacked legal documents allowing them to reside in the United States. Few (6%) feared that going to a physi cian might lead to trouble with immigration authorities. Those who did were almost 4 times as likely to delay seeking care for more than 2 m onths, a period of time likely to result in disease transmission. Pati ents potentially exposed an average of 10 domestic and workplace conta cts during the course of the delay. Any legislation that increases und ocumented immigrants' fear that health care professionals will report them to immigration authorities may exacerbate the current tuberculosi s epidemic.