The world is in the grip of a tuberculosis epidemic, but the number of cases in the Hawai’i and the U.S. mainland has dropped, partly due to better screening of cases and treatment, health officials say. That is good news
The world is in the grip of a tuberculosis epidemic, but the number of cases in the Hawai’i and the U.S. mainland has dropped, partly due to better screening of cases and treatment, health officials say.
That is good news for Hawai’i as the state celebrates World Tuberculosis Day today. On Kaua’i alone, only two cases of TB were reported last year.
World Tuberculosis Day is an effort to educate the public about tuberculosis and the importance of controlling the spread of the disease.
Health officials said many people think tuberculosis is a problem of the past. But behind the AIDs virus, the disease remains the second-leading infectious killer in the world, with 2 million tuberculosis-related deaths each year.
According to the World Health Organization, the global epidemic is growing and is becoming more dangerous. The breakdown in health services, the spread of HIV/AIDS and the emergence of multi-drug-resistant TB have contributed to the spread of tuberculosis.
If methods of control and treatment aren’t stepped up, by the year 2020 nearly 1 billion people will become infected and 70 million will die, according to World Health Organization.
In Hawai’i, recent statistics suggest that increased TB control efforts have made a difference in reducing the number of cases, the state Department of Health reported.
Data for last year indicated that case rates had fallen 26 percent over the past year, from 16 cases per 100,000 population in 1999 to 11 cases last year, department officials said.
Hawai’i was among the only six states with a significant decrease in cases within the past year. The other five states were Iowa, Kentucky, North Dakota, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
“We are trying to stay ahead of the curve with new TB treatment guidelines and programs to improve TB control in Hawai’i,” said Dr. Jessie Wing, chief of the health department’s tuberculosis control program.
O’ahu continues to report the highest number of TB cases in the state. Last year, there were 107 cases reported there with an incidence rate of about 12 cases per 100,000 population. O’ahu accounted for 79 percent of the state’s TB morbidity, state health officials said.
In 2000, Maui County reported 20 cases and Big Island had seven cases.
Under a national Centers for Disease Control grant, the state’s tuberculosis control program has been funded for five years. Hawai’i chips in matching funds for the program, Wing said.
Tuberculosis has remain active in Hawai’i because the state is the gateway for people traveling between the Pacific and Asia. Some are carriers of the disease, Wing said.
Since 1992, Hawai’i has reported one of the highest proportion of foreign-derived TB cases in the nation. In 2,000, 81 percent of the state’s TB cases were foreign-derived, compared to the national rate of 46 percent.
An airborne disease, tuberculosis affects the lungs and other parts of the body. People can become infected when a person with TB coughs, sneezes or sings. Signs of TB include coughing, fever, night-sweating, loss of appetite, weight loss and fatigue.
In the 19th century, tuberculosis killed one out of every seven persons living in the United States and Europe. But in Berlin, Germany, in 1882, Dr. Robert Koch announced the discovery of the TB bacillus, characterized by those in the medical field as the most important step toward the control and elimination of the disease.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
