| Tuberculosis: Still a Significant Public Health Concern
Tri-City Voice, October 9th, 2007
Specialist Sheds Light on TB and
Other Respiratory Diseases
Tuberculosis. It seems like one of those
long-forgotten diseases such as polio
or smallpox that have almost faded
into obscurity in this country. And true
enough, tuberculosis, also known as TB,
began declining in the
United States
after the development of advanced
medical therapies in the 1950s. But
before that point, TB was the most
common cause of death in the
United States,
according to Dr. Jason Chu, Medical
Director for Pulmonary Rehab and
Respiratory care at
Washington
Hospital.
Named after
the bacterium tubercle bacillus, TB is a
serious and infectious disease that
usually attacks the lungs but can attack
almost any part of the body.
Awareness remains vital
Since the 1950s, TB continued to
decline until the rise of the AIDS
epidemic during the 1980s and 90s, Dr.
Chu explains. While TB has begun to
decline again in the
United States, it
still remains a major public health
concern, according to
Chu.
To promote the
importance of awareness about TB, Dr.
Chu will present a free Health &
Wellness seminar focusing on TB and
other major respiratory illnesses.
Referred to
as a "global burden,” there are an
estimated 13,000 cases in the
United States per
year with cases in
California alone
representing a sixth of that total
number, according to Dr. Chu.
"Fremont
certainly gets its share of TB
infections with 17 percent of the total
caseload for
Alameda
County behind
Oakland, which
accounts for 40 percent,” he says.
A majority of
TB cases in the
United States,
according to Dr. Chu, originate from
foreign-born patients that come from TB
endemic regions, such as the
Philippines and
Vietnam.
The racial distribution of TB
infections, he says, is: 60 percent
Asian Pacific Islander; 14 percent
Latino; 20 percent African American; and
5 to 7 percent white.
The
necessity for close follow-up
"We’re far from a cure like
smallpox, which has been virtually wiped
out,” Dr. Chu says. "Patients need to be
treated and treatment requires
follow-up. The difficulty is that
treatment for TB is very different than
your typical week-long course of
antibiotics. To be effective, treatment
actually requires a nine-month course of
antibiotics. When patients do not
receive an adequate treatment course it
creates the potential for a mutated
drug-resistant strain of the disease.”
Dr. Chu calls
TB a "complicated” disease, which is
usually contracted by inhaling airborne
bacterial pathogens from a person in
close proximity. Patients typically do
not appear as acutely ill as they would
with pneumonia, but may have symptoms
including lingering cough, malaise, a
feeling of being run-down, as well as
low-grade fever.
"TB is often
initially treated like pneumonia or
bronchitis, but then it resurfaces,” he
says. "The disease is highly infectious
and transmittable, making it a huge
public health concern.”
While 70 to 75
percent of TB infections typically
affect the lungs, Dr. Chu says the
infection also can spread to involve
other parts of the body, such as bones,
joints, and the brain, and can lead to
death.
Even though TB
comes close to being as common as
pneumonia, very few people are even
aware that they have been infected, and
many do not realize the extent of the
dangers of infection to themselves and
others, Dr. Chu says. He cites the
recent example of the attorney from
Atlanta,
Ga.
who knew he had a strain of TB but still
traveled on several international
flights, potentially exposing thousands
of unknowing fellow passengers. This
case and others underscore the
importance of improving health care
practitioners’ tracking and follow-up of
infectious patients, according to
Chu.
Prevention
requires vigilance
Effective prevention of TB
often begins in the workplace, he notes.
Employee awareness and vigilance by
human resources departments can go a
long way towards preventing an outbreak.
"To hopefully
prevent the spread of TB, there needs to
be access in the workplace to skin
testing,” he says. "Employees should be
on the alert if they are at all
concerned and not ignore signs of
potential infection. Additionally,
people must be cognizant of respiratory
symptoms that persist longer than the
regular cold, bronchitis or flu, because
there’s a chance they may have been
exposed, and therefore should receive a
chest X-ray or sputum tests to rule out
TB infection. Controlling TB requires
common sense on the part of patients and
advocacy on the part of HR departments
in the workplace.”
Overall,
vigilance and improved tracking of
patients are keys to controlling the
disease, according to Dr. Chu.
"This is a
very global society we live in now,” he
says. "In this economically competitive
day and age people need to be accepting
of that fact and be aware that because
the world is becoming closer, it
predisposes people to the No. 1 or 2
disease entities that cause
hospitalizations, economic impact, time
off work and even death in other
countries.”
Dr. Chu’s
seminar will also briefly cover
respiratory illnesses such as asthma,
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
and chronic bronchitis, and how to
recognize respiratory illnesses early to
avoid letting them progress into
pneumonia.
Learn
about tuberculosis from an expert
To hear more about TB and other
respiratory illnesses from Dr. Chu, plan
on attending the Health & Wellness
seminar, "Tuberculosis and Respiratory
Diseases: What You Need to Know,” on
Tuesday, Oct. 16, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at
the Conrad E. Anderson, M.D. Auditorium,
Rooms A & B, located at 2500 Mowry Ave.,
Fremont.
To register
for the seminar, call (800) 963-7070.
For more information about upcoming
classes and seminars at
Washington
Hospital,
visit
www.whhs.com,
click on "The Community,” and select
"Community Seminars & Health Classes ”
from the drop-down menu.
WHAT:
Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases:
What You Need to Know
WHEN: Tuesday, Oct. 16,
1 to 2:30 p.m.
WHERE:
2500 Mowry Ave.,
Fremont, Conrad
E. Anderson, M.D.
Auditorium, Rooms A & B, CALL:
(800) 963-7070 to register
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