Short communicationMycobacterium tuberculosis complex transmission is not associated with recent immigration (≤ 5 years) in Florida

•We quantified the link between TB transmission and recent immigration among foreign-born persons in Florida.•A third of recent transmission occurred among persons who had lived in the US five years or less.•Recent immigration is not associated with TB transmission after accounting for clinical and socio-demographic covariate.•Homelessness, drug use and TB lineage are risk factors for TB transmission among Foreign-born Persons in Florida, US.

As tuberculosis (TB) incidence decreases in the US, foreign-born persons continue to account for a larger proportion of the burden. In these cross-sectional analyses of 1149 culture-confirmed TB cases genotyped using spoligotyping and 24-locus MIRU, we show that over a quarter of cases among the foreign-born population in Florida resulted from recent transmission of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. In addition, over a third of these cases occurred among persons who had immigrated 5 years or less prior to their diagnosis. Although recent immigration was not a significant predictor of TB transmission, younger age, birthplace in the Americas, homelessness, drug use and TB lineage are risk factors for TB transmission among the foreign-born population in Florida. These data provide actionable insights into TB transmission among the foreign-born population in Florida.