Vigilance Pays on Threat of TB

The number of cases of tuberculosis reported to health officials in Orange County last year climbed to 330, a 21% increase over 1996. While that is cause for concern, it also reflects a welcome improvement in reporting cases.

Last year the county hired a public health nurse to survey hospitals and doctors’ offices routinely and compile statistics on TB. Given the resurgence, first noted several years ago, that was a sound allocation of resources.

Once thought virtually eradicated in the United States, TB, which can ravage the lungs, has made a comeback. Health officials have concentrated on other diseases, especially AIDS, and schools stopped testing for TB. Instead, they now accept proof of a TB test from a child’s personal physician upon initial enrollment.

Although the number of TB cases across the United States dropped 7% last year, areas with high numbers of immigrants, such as Orange County, are more susceptible to the disease, according to public health officials.

County officials wisely have contacted family members of those found to have contracted the disease. Since TB is an airborne infectious disease, people living in the same house with those who are infected are at risk.

Schools also need to be vigilant. Four years ago, nearly two dozen students and staff members at a Westminster high school were found to have active TB. Since then, the number of cases in Orange County has declined. The highest number, 430, was reported in 1993.

But different TB strains have been resistant to drugs normally prescribed. Also, some patients do not finish the full course of medication, but instead stop taking drugs because they feel better. That lets the bacillus flourish.

So far this year, the number of new reported TB cases in the county is running behind last year’s tally. That may be evidence that the county’s stepped-up efforts for better reporting of the disease are bearing fruit. The recurrence of TB indicates that careful monitoring will have to continue.