CDC History of Tuberculosis Control - Medical and Public Health ...

every locale and/or state to understand the
unique nature of its own TB problem, in order
to apply current tools for TB control to their
best advantage. The establishment of new
partnerships to reach locally-identified highrisk
groups is another important new concept.
Notable Events in TB Control
Another way that an equilibrium between TB
and TB control may become tipped in favor of
TB control is by the introduction of new tools
for the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of
TB. This point was also made by Dr. Miller
and Dr. Castro in their JAMA editorial.
Consider, for example, the advantage of being
able to identify, among a population of 100
persons screened and found to have positive
tuberculin skin tests, the handful that are
destined to develop TB in the future, and to
offer treatment only to those who are truly at
risk, rather than to the entire cohort.
Likewise, based on forthcoming ATS/CDC
recommendations, we now have a range of
options for treatment for latent TB infection,
which should result in more effective use of
that preventive intervention. Finally, given the
events of the past year, with burgeoning
interest in a TB vaccine on the part of the US
government, private philanthropic
organizations, and the pharmaceutical
industry, the notion of a TB vaccine at last (in
the immortal words of Ken Castro) “passes the
laugh test.”
Even as Seattle’s current impasse with TB has
served to motivate us to redouble our efforts,
to think creatively, and to engage new
partners in our struggle, I am confident that,
should our trend become a national one, the
nation will be equal to that challenge. “The
man (or woman) who is tenacious of purpose
is not shaken from his firm resolve by the
tyrant’s threatening countenance.”
Horace, 23 BC.
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