Hawaii’s Unique Public Health Challenges: Antibiotic Resistant Gonorrhea

Apr 18 2012 :: Published in Infectious Diseases

By Caitlin Saucier, CDC/APHL Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory Training Fellow, State Laboratories Division, Hawaii Department of Health

In honor of STD Awareness Month, I’d like to remind everyone of an unpleasant risk of getting caught up in the throes of passion – sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). If you choose to be sexually active, you need a solid understanding of STDs to help you protect your health.

Neisseria gonorrhoeae

I’m going to focus on gonorrhea – or “the clap,” as it is known. There are over 700,000 new gonorrhea cases in the United States each year. The disease is spread from the infected person to their partner by direct contact, usually the penis, vagina, mouth, and/or anus; occasionally transmission occurs from mother to infant during delivery. (I’ll spare you the graphic details on signs and symptoms but invite you to check out the gonorrhea page on CDC’s website.)  Even scarier, in addition to a wide array of unpleasant symptoms, gonorrhea infections increase the risk of HIV transmission and can cause permanent reproductive damage in both men and women.

One particularly worrisome form of the disease is antibiotic-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae.  The strains causing this gonorrhea have evolved their genetics to ignore various antibiotics, making the infections difficult to treat and easy to spread.

The original cure for gonorrhea was penicillin, but strains that produce penicillinase were noted as early as 1976. Penicillinase is an enzyme produced by bacteria that rips the drug’s beta lactam ring and deactivates its ability to kill bacteria. In short, the bacteria outsmarted penicillin. Since then, these bacteria have continued to develop resistance to other antibiotics including spectinomycin, tetracyclines, fluoroquinolones, and cephalosporins. Last year, high level resistance to azithromycin (a commonly prescribed drug for the disease) appeared for the first time in the U.S.

Where do many of these strains show up?  Interestingly, here in the Aloha State.  Hawaiiwas the first state to identify penicillinase producing N. gonorrhoeae (1976) and N. gonorrhoeae resistant-strains to spectinomycin (1989), tetracycline (1993), and ciprofloxacin (1993). Convenient travel to and from Asia and other areas where resistance emerges contributes to this pattern in Hawaii.

Here in Hawaii, the Department of Health has active outreach to collect cultures from as many positive patients as possible – succeeding up to 50% of the time statewide.  The State Laboratories Division tests the positive gonorrhea cultures (189 isolates in 2011) for resistance to five different antibiotics. Any isolates with resistance are sent to the Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project (GISP) Regional Lab at theUniversity ofWashington inSeattle to be tested further and added to the database. This project monitors resistance trends and helps healthcare providers choose the best treatments for their patients. In 2011, the first case of gonorrhea with high-level resistance to azithromycin in theU.S. was detected by the Hawaii State Lab and confirmed by the GISP Lab.  Great lab science, but not exactly the kind of thing the tourism board wants to hear.

What does this mean for everybody? Look at this trend as another great reason to take care of your sexual health. Until you are in a mutually monogamous, long-term relationship, in which you are sure of your partner’s sexual health, use condoms, monitor symptoms, and get tested for gonorrhea and other STDs if you have exposure risks. Above all, stay safe!

Related articles

One comment

What We’re Reading — National Public Health Week

Apr 06 2012 :: Published in General, What We're Reading

In case you missed it, this week has been National Public Health Week – a time to celebrate those who work to keep us safe and healthy every day.  While a lot happened this week, I want to re-share the wonderful blog posts written by APHL staff.  The posts are written by staff who could easily do their jobs for any type of organization or company yet they found themselves in public health and are glad they did.  Thanks to LaToya, Pan, Scott, Jody and Ben for sharing your stories — everyone at APHL is glad you chose public health too!

And thanks to all those who work in public health.  Your work is extremely important and deeply valuable.  You don’t hear it enough — THANK YOU!

No comments yet

How I Found Myself in Public Health

Apr 05 2012 :: Published in General

This week is National Public Health Week!  APHL will be posting stories from staff on our blog all week.  However, these aren’t your typical public health stories.  They aren’t from our program staff or the folks working in the laboratories; they are from staff whose jobs could be done anywhere for any type of organization yet they choose to work in public health.  Their journeys to public health are unique, but what keeps them here is quite similar.

___________________

By Ben Moyer, Associate Specialist of Marketing, APHL

Public health was new to me when I started at APHL. I’ve been in the association marketing world since 1997. I worked at a retail trade association as a temp during school breaks while earning a degree in music, and then full-time for six years. After that was a two-year stint laying out research studies and other designs at a private consulting firm. Little did I know that my next steps would lead me to this wonderful organization.

Ben Moyer

While I don’t get to focus much on the actual science of public health, I work as part of the team that supports APHL’s scientific programs. As the associate specialist of marketing, my work is primarily focused on creating and maintaining awareness of APHL activities and resources, and presenting them to our membership, the public health community and the public at large. I am usually immersed in our brand, sending mass emails to members, designing and producing marketing collateral, devising conference graphics, exhibiting at industry events, and so much more.  Even if we’ve never met, you have likely seen my work at APHL conferences or in your email inbox.

Despite being relatively new to public health, I find it to be fascinating. I have learned about the importance of newborn screening and the public health labs’ role in that process; I even have a basic understanding of certain scientific tests. Beyond that, I feel that I am a part of something special; something beneficial to the community and my family and friends. The work that I do helps to drive results for our labs and the public.

And perhaps most of all, I am grateful that every day I get to work with some of the smartest, most creative, and fun science experts and association specialists in town!

I stumbled into the public health field and I am really happy that I did.

 

More stories from APHL staff for National Public Health Week:

No comments yet

My Circuitous Path to Public Health

Apr 05 2012 :: Published in General

This week is National Public Health Week!  APHL will be posting stories from staff on our blog all week.  However, these aren’t your typical public health stories.  They aren’t from our program staff or the folks working in the laboratories; they are from staff whose jobs could be done anywhere for any type of organization yet they choose to work in public health.  Their journeys to public health are unique, but what keeps them here is quite similar.

___________________

By Jody DeVoll, Director of Strategic Communications, APHL

It was 1993 the year when it seemed that the US might actually do something about its costly and unjust healthcare system and I was out in what was then the outer reaches of the DC suburbs working in… banking.

Now, there was nothing wrong with the electronic payment network represented by my employer.  Among other things, it’s responsible for direct deposit, which we all like, particularly on pay day. But I just could not feel passionate about batched electronic payments.

Jody DeVoll with friends in Orungo, Uganda, 1996

Perhaps, I thought, I could blame my parents for this dissatisfaction. After all, as committed state civil servants, they had instilled in me the values of service and hard work.

But truth to tell, I’d always been a quiet, nerdy sort. In my early teens when others my age were reading Seventeen magazine, I was glued to Gandhi’s autobiography, a hefty volume that I propped against my lawn chair as I worked on my tan. (Yes, I am now aware of the effects of sun exposure!) Like Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer and Eleanor Roosevelt, I wanted to make a difference in the world, albeit on a more modest scale.

As I neared college age, my career choices were presented as a) teacher or b) nurse. I chose “a”, and pursued undergraduate and graduate degrees in Education. Since this was the sixties, the assumption was that I would have a husband who would bring home “a good salary” to supplement my modest earnings as a teacher. Wrong! But I digress…

So in 1993 with my education completed and multiple years in nonprofit communications and other assorted nonprofit functions, I asked myself, “What next?”  Maybe, just maybe, I could contribute to the campaign for health care reform. Here was a human rights issue to which I could commit myself wholeheartedly. I left the banking association; it was like jumping off the high dive into a cold pool.

But the organizations leading the charge in health care reform were not taking volunteers, much less staff, so I looked outside the US for opportunities in Global Health. Preparations were underway for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, and I grabbed the opportunity to volunteer with a group of women in health and development who were drafting language for the conference platform.  This effort evolved into a stint as coordinator for a coalition advocating around the Beijing conference for action against the rising incidence of HIV infection in women.  In Beijing, Chinese visitors sidled up to our exhibit cautiously as if they feared they would become infected with HIV by brushing against it. After China there was Uganda, where I learned much and earned nothing as a consultant at an exchange program for women directors of non-governmental organizations, and Nigeria, where Abacha’s security forces tracked our small band of health and microcredit activists across Lagos. Note to self: Never visit a country controlled by a corrupt and ruthless dictator, especially prior to local “elections.”

A lucky – if crazy – American, I returned to the States where I continued my pursuit of gainful employment.  I considered a doctoral program to augment my credentials, but was advised that I’d never recoup the cost of tuition at mid-career. What’s more, my generous partner was rightfully pushing me to just take a job!

So I did take one in… banking. What can I say? I had the right experience, and eating is good. This time around I was working for a US Treasury social marketing campaign promoting a new debit card targeted to recipients of federal benefits.  I slogged through the days and continued to pursue a position where I could contribute to public health.

Then a miracle occurred: I learned of an opening for a communications director at the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs.  I applied and landed the job. Finally, I had achieved my goal of a paid position doing meaningful work to improve the public’s health! Less than two years later, I was fortunate to move to another public health association active in both domestic and international spheres, the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL). APHL has proven to be the best managed organization I have worked for in my 30+ year career, and, in my opinion, it just keeps getting better.  As for making a difference in the world?  Well, I’m supporting the people who are doing just that – the public health labs.

Now if the Supreme Court would only rule in favor of the Affordable Care Act, I would truly have reached public health nirvana.

 

More stories from APHL staff for National Public Health Week:

One comment

At Home in Public Health

Apr 04 2012 :: Published in General

This week is National Public Health Week!  APHL will be posting stories from staff on our blog all week.  However, these aren’t your typical public health stories.  They aren’t from our program staff or the folks working in the laboratories; they are from staff whose jobs could be done anywhere for any type of organization yet they choose to work in public health.  Their journeys to public health are unique, but what keeps them here is quite similar.

___________________

By Scott J. Becker, Executive Director, APHL

I’m an Association guy and always have been.  My first job out of university was working for an association representing schools of public health and I’ve never looked back.  Those very first days got me hooked on both associations and on public health.

Scott Becker Why associations?  That’s easy – because being in a leadership position is somewhere between being a business owner (but not exactly) and being an entrepreneur, especially in a small association.   Early in my career I was given loads of chances and became a jack-of-all-trades which suited my “can’t sit still for five minutes” personality just fine.  Associations are places where like-minded groups come together to, well, associate.  I love the idea of being responsive to a constituency and feeling like I am responsible for a constituency.  Association management has been a great fit for me.

With the association management experiences I’ve had over the past 20+ years, I could run most any kind of non-profit (or even commercial) organization. I could run the truckers association – but instead I choose to work in public health. After all these years, I’m coming around to seeing myself as a public health professional that happens to run an association.  Public health hooks you in quickly and personally.

Public health is made up of many, many professions all working toward the goal of improving the public’s health.  Who exactly is the public?  It’s all of us.  Or as my Southern friends say, “it’s all y’all.”  Having grown up on the Jersey shore I’ve always thought of the public in public health as “youse guys.”

Here’s a given.  Public health is often times in the background.  It gets a bad rap (or no rap at all) because it is an inherently governmental function and some people don’t think very highly of government right now. Think of it this way… I’m sure you’ve heard all those lawyer jokes, right?  Most are funny, some are lame, yet many make me laugh (except when I’m in the company of my attorney-wife).  But when something bad happens (think car accident, breach of contract, you bought a lemon for a car) what do we do?  That’s right, we call a lawyer.  The same thing happens with public health.  When everything is working just fine, we don’t see or acknowledge that public health is at work.  But when something bad happens (think measles outbreak, a community-wide foodborne illness outbreak or a white powder letter is sent to your Senator) who is called?  That’s right, governmental public health agencies.

I’m often asked by family and friends what I do because the term “public health” is so obtuse.  One relative (who will not be named here for reasons about to become clear) asked what my “public health lavatories” association does.  Do we ensure that the toilets along the interstate were clean and hygienic?  Uh… no. But that is public health (kind of-sort of).  So I’m going to take a moment, in the middle of National Public Health Week, to share some of the things I think that make public health special and why you might want to thank a public health professional this week (or really any day of the year – we’re always working).

  •  Do you have clean water to drink?  Thanks to public health, most of us in the U.S. do.  We have water testing programs that can tell if there are pollutants from runoffs, chemical contaminants and other harmful things in our water.  Not only does it make your water safer, this information is what gets the polluters to stop.
  • Is your food safe?  What if there was a foodborne disease outbreak in your community?  Public health and PulseNet to the rescue.  A collaborative team of investigators made up of epidemiologists and public health laboratorians are there to help pinpoint the source of the outbreak so that an intervention can be put into place quick so others don’t get sick.  Think outbreaks related sprouts, cantaloupe, peanut butter…all detected through PulseNet.
  • Help! My kid just got bit by an animal! Is it rabid?!  We don’t often think of rabies anymore, but it’s still out there.  Your public health agency will get involved, coordinating with animal control and the public health lab to get you the answers you need.
  • A few drops of blood for peace of mind and for early detection.  Do you remember that little heel-prick to draw blood from your newborn before you left the hospital?  Even if you don’t remember, it happened and you should be thankful.  Newborn screening  aims to identify infants that appear healthy at birth, but are afflicted with genetic conditions that can cause severe illness or death.With early detection, these conditions can be managed to prevent complications.  Some conditions can even be cured if addressed quickly. Think Cystic Fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, and SCID (aka ”Bubble Boy Disease”).
  • Some of the smartest, most unassuming people can be found in public health.   I have many public health heroes, from nurses to community health workers to academics; science journalists who really get public health, those disease detectives and virus hunters, and those unassuming but critically important laboratorians-heroes in lab coats.  And many more.  Public health is interdisciplinary by its very nature.  No one public health professional can do their job well without the others on the team contributing.  It really does take a village.
  • Public health is essential for economic health.   Health care costs take up so much of an employer’s budget; can you imagine if our employee base was healthier?  Employees could then be more productive.  Healthy workers produce more, earn more, and can contribute to the overall economy and fiscal health of our nation. C’mon, this isn’t rocket science!
  • When an emerging disease is found, who springs into action?  Public health agencies.  Governmental public health agencies to be exact.  There is a disease detection network in every community at work every day to ensure that we can identify threats and intervene when they appear. Does anyone remember SARS?  It’s estimated that SARS cost upwards of $2 billion to the Canadian economy in 2004.

For more food for thought (no pun intended), you should visit Marion Nestle’s 2010 blog post in the Atlantic on why public health matters.  PS, she’s one of my public health heroes.

I thank the public health professionals I have met and worked with, as well as my many heroes of public health who have taken this association guy under their wing and allowed me to become one of you.  Though not formally trained in public health, I am at home. At some point this week, please give thanks to a public health professional.  You may have to look around for them, but they are there.  If you happen to have a cold, pass on the handshake and go for the fist-bump instead.  It’s more hygienic that way and we’ll understand.

 

More stories from APHL staff for National Public Health Week:

5 comments

Serendipity and Unsung Heroes

Apr 03 2012 :: Published in General

This week is National Public Health Week!  APHL will be posting stories from staff on our blog all week.  However, these aren’t your typical public health stories.  They aren’t from our program staff or the folks working in the laboratories; they are from staff whose jobs could be done anywhere for any type of organization yet they choose to work in public health.  Their journeys to public health are unique, but what keeps them here is quite similar.  

___________________

By Pandora Ray, Director of the National Center for Public Health Laboratory Leadership, APHL

My favorite interview question is, “so which do you prefer most…working with people or working with things?”  I was first asked this question as a teenager; I stumbled for a moment and finally answered, “yes”.  When asked to explain, I talked about how odd it seemed to have to choose between them.  If I said people, I was steered to human resources, teaching, and social work; all that liberal artsy kind of stuff.  If I said things, my educational coaching led to discussion of science, math and IT.   At the time I wasn’t clear enough in my thinking to voice my discomfort.  Instead I plodded along unconsciously balancing between the two, ultimately settling on social science thinking that I could be a lawyer, a professor, or a business executive.  The choices I made seemed logical at the time.

Pandora Ray But as it turns out, I wasn’t really making choices in what I wanted to be when I grew up.  Instead I was riding the current, doing what came naturally, if not more easily, to me.  I had aspirations to be successful in a career, make my parents proud, secure more than a middle class wage, and live the dream.

To be honest, my “living the dream” felt hollow as I crested the wave.  I kept thinking there ought to be more; if not to the dream, at least to my experience of it.  I was working with people and things but in a mechanical way rather than meaningful way.  The results of my work improved things, but the value to people was less tangible.  Something was missing.

Like nearly everyone I know in public health, particularly public health laboratory science, I discovered it through serendipity.  I was in a music class sitting next to a stranger.  After introduction, this stranger turned out to be an associate dean from the school of public health in my hometown 3,000 miles away, and suggested that I might consider a career in public health.  I asked, “public health?  What’s that?”

Six months later I was working at APHL in the best job ever, working with people and working with things to make a difference in the lives and the health of our communities.  What’s the missing piece?  It’s work that connects me to people and things that can mean the difference between life and death.  It’s the opportunity to affect social issues beyond the walls of an institution or private organization.  It’s the active engagement in work that directly impacts the health and well being of not just individuals but of communities.

I do something different every day.

I visit laboratories across the country and talk to the people serving behind the scenes to identify new disease outbreaks, contamination in our food supply, tracking disease and following trends, and identifying other threats to the public.

They tell me about the challenges they face balancing the needs of the public against the depletion of resources to meet them.

I hear firsthand the stories of how a baby’s life was saved through an analysis of a blood specimen.

I work with the front line leaders asking questions about workflow and process.  I seek them out asking why they do what they do, what they like about it, and what they wish could be different.  I ask “why” a lot.

I practice leadership and management skills with the goal of getting people to think differently and innovatively about their approach to problems.  I work with them to help them be strong managers, positioning them for long term leadership roles in laboratories.

I’m grateful to have found a path that fulfills my aspiration to make a difference in the world I live in.  But even more, I’m grateful to those unsung heroes and heroines who have chartered their own accidental paths into public health laboratory science and the laboratories around us.   Their real time scientific work of testing and discovery make my life safer, healthier and richer.  I salute them.

And if I could do it over, I’d become one of them.

 

More stories from APHL staff for National Public Health Week:

2 comments

Taking the Leap

Apr 02 2012 :: Published in General

This week is National Public Health Week!  APHL will be posting stories from staff on our blog all week.  However, these aren’t your typical public health stories.  They aren’t from our program staff or the folks working in the laboratories; they are from staff whose jobs could be done anywhere for any type of organization yet they choose to work in public health.  Their journeys to public health are unique, but what keeps them here is quite similar.  

___________________

By LaToya Norman, Public Health Communications Intern, APHL

“Are Public Health and Chemistry related?” This is a question I often face when telling people of my decision to transition from chemistry to public health. No one seems to understand the connection between the two fields or my reason for making the switch.  Most people assume that I woke up one morning and decided to quit my job as a scientist. But give me more credit than that—I’m a methodical Virgo! My plan was well thought out and over a good amount of time. I hope this blog post sets the records straight.

LaToya Norman In 1998, my grandmother was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)—a chronic autoimmune disease that causes the body to attack healthy tissue. The disease affects major organs and is considered incurable. For years, I watched my grandmother slowly deteriorate from the disease and eventually pass away.  This experience had a big impact on me—I decided to study chemistry in college and work in a pharmaceutical laboratory after school to help discover treatments for autoimmune disorders and other diseases deemed incurable.

At the lab, I worked on the bench for two years before broader aspirations came calling. I began to feel the urge to make a more direct and immediate contribution towards enhancing health. Although it was an honor to assist in developing medicine for various diseases, the reality is that it takes several years for a drug to reach the market… “IF” it gets the blessing of the FDA. As a pharmaceutical scientist, my main concern has always been improving the health of individuals. It was not until volunteering with an HIV/AIDS organization that I began to consider protecting health on a population level. Working with that organization made me realize how much public health and chemistry had in common; both fields serve to improve health and prolong life. However, public health, as we know, is more prevention-focused and supports healthy communities.

This was (for you Oprah fans) my “aha!” moment: I could work in public health to satisfy my desire to help more people, while continuing to uphold the same principles that inspired me to pursue chemistry (enhancing health and protecting lives). At that moment, I began to look at the world of health with a whole new perspective. No longer was I focused on helping manage disease for an individual, I now wanted to PREVENT disease for an entire population. So, I applied for graduate school and was accepted into The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (try saying that ten times fast!). I chose to study Public Health Communication and Marketing because our world is so communication-driven that I felt it was the best outlet for what I hoped to achieve. How can you teach people to be healthy and prevent disease if you can’t communicate effectively with them? Months later, here I am at the Association of Public Health Laboratories living out my dream.

What do I hope to gain from Public Health?

This question bears a very simple answer: To be able to look at the world around me and know that I am helping to protect the life of every person I encounter.

 

More stories from APHL staff for National Public Health Week:

3 comments

Health Disparities: Improving Health Means Addressing Complex Issues

Mar 29 2012 :: Published in Infectious Diseases

By: Asha Farrah, Newborn Screening and Genetics, APHL

After attending the 3rd Annual Minority Health Conference at The George Washington University, I formed a better understanding of the myriad of factors contributing to the high prevalence of AIDS, mental health concerns and substance abuse in minority communities.

Contributing factors to the high rate of HIV infection among minority populations was examined.  Factors include higher prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases, lack of awareness of HIV status, struggles with stigma associated with HIV infection and mental illness, and the life challenges associated with low socioeconomic status.

Dr. William B. Lawson, Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Howard University, discussed high-risk behaviors among former prison inmates.  He found that former inmates continued to engage in risky behaviors after their release. Operating under a false sense of security because people with HIV now live longer, they saw no reason to modify their behavior.

Mental health is a major concern in minority communities.  It is often associated with other disorders and can spiral into additional health problems.  For example, mental abuse is often directly linked to substance abuse, and the stigma associated with discussing or seeking help for mental health issues discourages people from pursuing treatment. Substance abuse and drug overdoses are high among those with mentally illness. According to Dr. Lawson, two minorities in DC die each week due to drug overdose.

But despite the devastation to minority communities caused by AIDS, mental health concerns and substance abuse, public health professionals can continue to reduce health disparities by developing programs that support respected community institutions such as schools, churches and community centers.  Even a program that was mentioned which included having condoms available at barbershops and beauty salons is a small step towards big change.

 

Related articles

One comment

What We’re Reading

Mar 29 2012 :: Published in What We're Reading

  • Hawaii Poised to Become the First State to Adopt a State Microbe – Yes, you read that right!  Hawaii is likely to become the first state to designate a state microbe.  Aside from being so cool and nerdy all at once, this new state symbol will likely draw much needed attention to laboratory science.  I see this conversation happening on couches across Hawaii as residents hear of this news: “What’s a microbe?  I don’t know… Google it. *Pause for Googling* Wow, this is so cool!  Laboratories are awesome! I should pay closer attention in science class! Wait… how do you pronounce Nesiotobacter exalbescens anyway?”
  • The Portland Press Herald ran a two-part series on the Salmonella outbreak associated with Hannaford supermarkets.  Part 1 lays out the situation and the initial observations about the case.  Part 2 gets into the really interesting stuff — how they came to determine a link to Hannaford stores in several states. It presents a great picture of how PulseNet works to detect foodborne illness clusters around the nation.  In the end, 20 people from seven states were infected with Salmonella Typhimurium.  Luckily the work of public health detectives meant the outbreak stopped there.
  • India’s First Kids Flash Mob Dance — World TB Day – So this is technically a “What We’re Watching” piece, but it still works.  Last Saturday (March 24) was World TB Day.  India has been in the news recently because of drug-resistant TB that has been spreading there.  Given that not-so-great news, it was incredibly refreshing to see this group of kids join together to dance their tails off in an effort to raise awareness about TB.  Make sure to watch until the end… STOP TB!  STOP TB!

 

Related articles

One comment

World TB Day 2012: Help in the Fight to “Stop TB in My Lifetime”

Mar 24 2012 :: Published in Infectious Diseases

By Tam Van, Manager, HIV, Hepatitis, STD and TB Programs, APHL

March 24.  The day the NASA spacecraft Ranger 9 brings images of the moon into ordinary homes before crash landing in 1965.  The day Harry Houdini was born in 1874.  Also the day when Dr. Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), 130 years ago in 1882.  March 24, 2012 World TB Day is commemorated worldwide to bring awareness to this deadly disease.

Stop TB - In My Lifetime, World TB Day, March 24In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported approximately 11,000 TB cases in the United States, (CDC Reported Tuberculosis in the United States, 2010).  The good news? This is continuing the trend of declines in the number of TB cases in the US since 1993.  The bad news? There were still a reported 11,000 TB cases in the US in 2010.  This is not to mention the estimated two billion people in the world infected with M. tuberculosis and the nearly 1.5 million deaths attributed to TB each year worldwide.

Although we have come a long way since Dr. Koch’s discovery, there is still much work to be done.  The emergence of totally drug-resistant TB and the effect that increasing globalization has on the spread of M. tuberculosis that are resistant to multiple treatment drugs are a few concerns.  Therefore, in order to reach the goal of a world free of TB we must all work together to detect, prevent and treat this disease.  This year, help in the fight to Stop TB in My Lifetime by educating yourself and help bring more awareness to TB, the problems, the solutions and the control efforts.

For more information and to find out if your state has activities planned to commemorate World TB Day, please visit CDC’s World TB Day 2012 or STOP TB USA.  And see our website for more information on APHL’s TB program.

To all those who battle in the war to prevent and control TB every day, we thank you wholeheartedly, especially, on this day.

 

Related articles

2 comments

« Newer posts Older posts »

Sharing Buttons by Linksku