TEXAS: "Dallas County's Unyielding Approach on Tuberculosis Has Cases of the Disease Falling"
Dallas Morning News (04.15.10):: Sherry Jacobson
For the first time, the annual number of TB cases in Dallas County has fallen below 200, health officials say. In 2009, the county had 195 active TB cases, an 11 percent decline from 219 cases the previous year.
"We're fortunate in Dallas County to have a real robust surveillance program and a public clinic working hand in hand," said Zachary Thompson, executive director of Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS).
The county's TB prevention efforts are supported by a $1.9 million budget and 60 full-time employees.
The clinic sees 40-60 patients a day, a number including health care professionals and others screened for work and educational requirements. Ten outreach workers directly monitor the treatment of county TB patients.
"We can meet them at a McDonald's or a 7-Eleven or a gas station," said Tesfa Kidane, who oversees the outreach workers. "Usually, a strong attachment grows between the patients and the outreach workers," Kidane said.
"It takes a very strong public health approach to keep track of the active cases," said Dr. Brian Smith, director of Region 11 for the Texas Department of State Health Services. The 19-county region, which sits mostly along the Mexico border, reported 11 TB cases per 100,000 people in 2009.
Dallas County had 8.1 TB cases per 100,0000 last year, down from 9.2 cases in 2008. However, the county's rate is still far ahead of the national TB rate of 4.2 cases per 100,000 in 2008. The overall rate for Texas is 6.3 cases per 100,000.
Reasons for the county's and state's higher TB incidence include a large immigrant and refugee population from TB-endemic countries, experts say.
Maybe it's a long bow to draw to assume that their adoption of QuantiFERON has contributed to their decreased rates of active TB but who knows?
*(Apologies for the title - particularly to the youngsters who were not around in the early 80's)
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