March 23, 1999

World TB Day 3/24/99

The Westchester County Department of Health today announced that it will participate in World Tuberculosis Day, March 24, 1999, by distributing TB information through all District Offices. Although Westchester County, like most of the U.S., has low rates of TB, World Tuberculosis Day is designed to make the public aware that tuberculosis is still an epidemic out of control in much of the world.

"Despite the fact that effective cures for tuberculosis have been available for decades, TB still causes the deaths of millions of people each year worldwide," stated Dr. Harold Adel, Commissioner of Health for Westchester County.

"Almost all TB deaths are preventable," continued Dr. Adel. "Unless the tuberculosis is drug resistant, almost all cases can be cured. In turn, every TB patient cured reduces the pool of contagious infection and the risk to everyone of contracting TB," he added.

"In 1998, there were 68 tuberculosis cases reported to the Westchester County Department of Health," said Dr. Amy Rosenberg, Director of Tuberculosis Control with Westchester County Department of Health.

"We should not relax our efforts to control the spread of this serious illness," continued Dr. Rosenberg. "In 1998 there was only 1 case of multiple drug resistant tuberculosis as opposed to 15 cases in 1992, reflecting the success of our directly observed therapy program."

Tuberculosis is a disease that is spread from person to person through the air. TB usually infects the lungs, but it can affect other parts of the body also. Tuberculosis is spread when a person with TB disease coughs, sneezes, talks or sings.

General symptoms of TB may include feeling weak or sick, weight loss, fever and/or night sweats. Symptoms of TB of the lungs may include cough, chest pain and/or coughing up blood. A tuberculin skin test is the only way to tell if a person has been infected with tuberculosis before he actually comes down with the illness. If a person’s skin test indicates he or she has been infected with tuberculosis, preventive therapy can be instituted so that the person will not develop an active case of tuberculosis. In most cases, this means that the person takes a single medication for several months to prevent tuberculosis.

For more information about tuberculosis, or the tuberculin skin test, call the Westchester County Department of Health at (914) 813-5000.