(FORTUNE Magazine) – A decision to require tuberculosis tests for U.S. Postal Service job applicants in the Washington area has raised . . . concerns about how to curb the growing number of local TB cases without stepping on workers' civil rights. The decision to launch the . . . screening program was reached after eight workers at the Dulles mail-distribution center . . . tested positive last week for TB . . . Six of the eight . . . are immigrants . . . Because the respiratory infection is much more prevalent among immigrants, mandatory testing could lead to employment discrimination, said Thomas Privett, a U.S. public health adviser . . . Stephen Pershing, legal director for the Virginia chapter of the American ! Civil Liberties Union . . . said government agencies have to be careful about setting general rules regarding such infectious diseases. ''It may be that the policy is some sort of pretext for employment discrimination based on national origin or race or medical status,'' he said. -- From a news report in the Washington Post.