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Health Department Works to
Control TB
 

 
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Facts about TB

Due to the recent case of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) in the news, the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department is offering information about TB and how it is treated.

The Health Department aggressively works to prevent the spread of TB in the community by providing education, testing and treatment for individuals who have been in contact with a person who is suspected of having TB or who has been diagnosed with TB.

Here are some facts about TB:

  • TB germs can spread through the air when someone with infectious TB speaks, coughs, sneezes, sings or laughs. Proper hygiene, such as covering coughs and sneezes with tissues and disposing of the tissues properly, can decrease germs emitted into the air.
  • Symptoms include a cough that lasts three weeks or longer, night sweats, fever, chills and weight loss. If you develop these symptoms or know someone who has, you are advised to be screened by your private provider or at the health department.
  • People who are infected with the TB germ, but do not have any symptoms, have a latent form of tuberculosis and are not contageous. Months or years later, though, an active form of the disease can develop in these individuals. If the disease then affects the lungs or throat, these individuals can be contagious and spread the disease to others.
  • Most tuberculosis can be treated and cured with antibiotics. Patients must take TB medications as directed by their physician, or the tuberculosis germ can develop resistance to the drugs used to treat it. Resistant forms of tuberculosis are much more difficult to treat, and can be deadly. Any form of tuberculosis can kill if it is left untreated.
  • The Health Department investigates the contacts of every suspected and confirmed TB case at no cost. If a contact is found to have latent or active TB, lab work, office visits and medications are provided at no charge at the Health Department’s Tuberculosis Control Clinic.

The number of reported TB cases in Shelby County increased last year. According to Dr. Helen Morrow, Acting Health Officer for the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department, the increase is due to better detection. “The TB Control Program has recently increased staff to do more thorough investigations of the contacts of active TB patients. That has increased the number of people who get treatment before they get seriously ill.”

The keys to combating TB are prevention and proper treatment. TB usually is treatable and curable, once it has been detected. If you experience tuberculosis symptoms for two weeks or longer, or you have been in contact with someone with active TB, you should notify your private physician or the Health Department TB Control Program.

For more information or testing, contact the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department Tuberculosis Control office at 901-544-7616, visit the Shelby County Government Web site or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site.

Published: June 28, 2007
Source: Memphis and Shelby County Health Department; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; National Institutes of Health



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