ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Getting the Jump on TB

County officials appear to have learned a lesson from last year’s outbreak of tuberculosis at La Quinta High School in Westminster, where a dozen students were infected. Though school and county employees scrambled to battle the outbreak once the dimensions became clear, they got off to a late start, allegedly because of a private doctor’s delayed diagnosis and inadequate treatment of a student who was contagious for more than two years.

Last week, the Board of Supervisors approved $1.5 million to hire 33 more public health workers to battle the disease. That’s a hefty increase over the $5 million budgeted for TB each year. However, the necessity of the extra funds and personnel was underscored by the need to test hundreds of students at La Quinta to see whether they had contracted TB and, if so, whether they had active cases. Last month an active case was diagnosed in an Orange Coast College student, and a student at a Santa Ana intermediate school was found to have symptoms. County officials said private physicians promptly reported the two cases, action that all doctors should emulate.

It was not easy for the county to come up with extra money, but prevention is cheaper than treatment. Officials now should press for help from state and federal programs to battle TB, which has increased alarmingly in recent years. Public health workers also must continue their education programs to ensure that those suffering from TB complete their treatment, lest more harm come to them and others.