News Release                             For Immediate Release

                                                                                                                       March 19, 2008

World TB Day – New Local Resource

World Stop TB Day, held on March 24 each year, raises awareness about the global health threat from tuberculosis (TB).

Pulmonary TB is a bacterial infection affecting the lungs. It spreads through close, prolonged or regular exposure to someone with active TB, especially from coughing.

In Grey Bruce, the incidence of TB is very low but with immigration and international travel, we must remain vigilant for this disease. In 2007, the Grey Bruce Health Unit investigated 30 incidents of individuals with positive TB skin tests, symptoms or diagnostic test results related to possible active disease. There was one active case.

The Grey Bruce Health Unit is distributing new TB resource material to health care providers in nursing homes and long-term care facilities across Grey Bruce. The resources, including a new DVD, review the process of administering and reading a TB skin test. 

One in three people globally is infected with TB. Worldwide it is a leading cause of death from infectious disease with eight million new cases and three million deaths annually. People with HIV/AIDS exposed to TB are much more likely to develop active TB. Many countries struggle to treat both of these infections and drug resistance is becoming more common.

Canada sees 1,600 new cases of TB each year with almost half in Ontario. Eighty per cent of Ontario cases occur in the Toronto area.

In Ontario TB is increasingly an urban disease of the poor, the homeless, the elderly and foreign-born residents from countries where TB is common. Aboriginal people are also at higher risk for TB. TB is generally curable but the correct combination of medications must be taken daily for at least six months. Incomplete treatment can result in development of drug-resistant strains of the disease.

 For more information, contact Public Health at 519-376-9420 or visit our website at www.publichealthgreybruce.on.ca or visit the World Stop TB Day website at http://www.stoptb.org/events/world_tb_day2008 .

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Attachments: TB Facts Sheet

For more information:

Debby Minielly

Public Health Nurse, Communicable Disease Team

Grey Bruce Health Unit

519-376-9420 or 1-800-263-3456 ext. 257