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World TB Day set for Monday
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March 24 marks World TB Day, an annual event that commemorates the day in 1882 when German physician and scientist Robert Koch announced his discovery of the bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
This year, the theme for World TB Day selected by the CDC is “Find TB. Treat TB. Working together to eliminate TB.” The day is an opportunity to raise awareness about TB and its associated problems and solutions and to support worldwide control efforts.
In 2013, 9,588 new cases of TB were reported in the United States, for a case rate of 3 per 100,000. The number of cases in the United States is on the decline, but there are challenges that slow progress towards the TB elimination goal. For example, TB persists in particular populations, including foreign-born people and racial/ethnic minorities.
In MMWR, CDC reported that it is committed to a TB-free world and reiterated the necessity of initiatives to improve awareness, testing and treatment for latent TB and TB disease to reach the goal of TB elimination in the United States.
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