TB Prevention
Re “L.A. County’s Fiscal Demands vs. TB,” editorial, Oct. 2: As chair of the TB Coalition in Orange County, I concur with the urgent need to improve tuberculosis control and prevention. We in Orange County have been going through similar financial woes and despite the county bankruptcy, the Board of Supervisors has made TB and AIDS priorities.
In the current political climate, discriminatory attitudes toward people of color and the undocumented may lead to service cuts. We cannot ignore the impact of TB and the growing problems it presents. Increased education of physicians and the public, prophylactic medicines for the infected and directly observed therapy for the infectious are absolute musts.
The American Lung Assn. of Orange County has formed a coalition to address these issues and advocate for appropriate public health measures, while working with the health care agency and the communities of highest risk. We have seen the results of less than adequate measures in New York and other areas of the country where TB is now resistant to mainstream drugs.
TB is not the threat it was at the turn of the century. We know how to prevent and treat it. Surely it makes sense to use the proverbial ounce of prevention in this case or we will need millions of dollars in the future to control this insidious disease.
PEARL JEMISON-SMITH RN
Chair, TB Coalition, Orange County
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