home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- THE WEEK, Page 25HEALTH & SCIENCETB's Return
-
-
- Health officials say it's time to shut down the resurgent killer
-
-
- In part because of the emergence of AIDS, in part because of
- breakdowns in public health services, the incidence of
- tuberculosis has jumped 25% since 1984, when 22,000 cases were
- documented in the U.S. Physicians from the American Lung
- Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- now recommend a series of more aggressive counter measures to
- prevent a general outbreak of TB, some new strains of which are
- particularly virulent.
-
- At the top of the recommended list is more extensive
- screening for TB infection among high-risk groups, including
- children, hospital patients and the homeless. Because people
- with weakened immune systems are particularly vulnerable to TB,
- the doctors also advise that anyone who lives in close contact
- with a TB patient should also be screened for AIDS-spawning HIV.
- For those tubercular patients who refuse treatment, thereby
- needlessly endangering their fellow citizens, the health experts
- recommend mandatory quarantine as a last resort.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-