50 cases of tuberculosis reported in York Region in 2013

Newmarket Era
March 24, 2014
By Sean Pearce

Today is World Tuberculosis Day and the Region of York reminds you the disease is preventable, treatable and curable.

Tuberculosis, or TB, remains present in our community and there were more than 50 confirmed cases of the disease last year.

Around the world, new TB infection rates have been on the decline and mortality rates have dropped significantly since 1990, a trend also witnessed here in York.

Awareness of TB is heightened globally each March 24 to commemorate the day Dr. Robert Koch announced his discovery of the TB bacillus in 1882. At the time, one out of seven people in Europe and the Americas died of TB.

Jumping ahead 132 years, it’s a different story as there are new drugs and new drug combinations available to treat TB.

That said, as doctors see fewer TB cases in their practises it may prove challenging for health care professionals to diagnose a patient with TB quickly.

The symptoms of TB, a bad cough lasting more than three weeks, weakness or fatigue, weight loss, chills, fever and night sweats, can resemble other illnesses and thus delay the correct diagnosis of TB.

The region’s TB program aims to minimize the impact and spread of TB infection and disease by working with health care providers to identify, assess and manage people with TB in a timely fashion, providing TB medications at no cost, keeping tabs on TB clients for medication side effects, ensuring compliance with TB treatment requirements through home visits or connecting with clients through videoconferencing to observe them taking their medication and by identifying, assessing and ensuring tests are performed on those in contact with TB patients. In 2013, 473 contacts of TB cases were identified and assessed in the region.

To learn more about TB or any other public health-related topic, contact York Region Health Connection at 1-800-361-5653 or TTY 1-866-252-9933 or visit york.ca/tb