Release Date: March 20, 2009
Contact: Christine Patmon, Metro Health Public Relations Manager, 207-8638
World TB Day 2009 to Focus on Awareness and Challenges
Metro Health to recognize local efforts aimed at controlling persistent disease
Creating awareness and combating fears and misunderstandings will be the goal of local World TB Day efforts. Metro Health invites the medical community and the community-at-large to its World TB Day 2009 event scheduled for Tuesday, March 24, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Central Library Auditorium, 600 Soledad.
The local observance will detail the status of tuberculosis in Bexar County along with some of the challenges associated with local contact investigations. In 2008, Metro Health confirmed 81 new cases of tuberculosis disease and investigated 1,870 contacts. Individuals attending the World TB Day event will learn how that compares with years past as well as with the state and the nation. Event highlights also include recognition of local students who participated in a TB awareness poster contest and a poster presentation display.
“There is still a great deal of fear and stigma associated with tuberculosis,” said Assistant Director Dr. Bryan Alsip. “One third of the world’s population is infected with the disease, and in a global society, local cases are to be expected. Our job is to control the spread of tuberculosis and to educate the public and health care providers. Our hope is that the community will respond with understanding and sound judgment, which is a major goal of educating with art through the poster contest.”
For more information about World TB Day or Metro Health’s TB Program, call 207-8823 or visit www.sanantonio.gov/health/TB-main.html.
