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PAHO NEWS: Press Releases, Job Vacancies, and Other
Information from the Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO) via the Canadian Society for International Health
(CSIH) Technical Representative in Canada for PAHO
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VIRUS ALERT - Prettypark.Worm
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CSIH's computer network was infected with the virus
"Prettypark.Worm". Please delete (without opening them)
all messages you received from CSIH between Friday, March
17 and Thursday, March 23. We are very sorry for all
inconvenience this may have caused. However, our system is
cleaned as of today Friday, March 24, and there should be
no more problems from now on.
To make sure that your system is not infected, go to the
address below for instructions on how to remove it:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/prettypark.worm
.html
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Tuberculosis Advance Must be Halted, PAHO Director Says
Washington, DC (PAHO), 24 March 2000
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The Director of the Pan American Health Organization, Dr.
George Alleyne, made an appeal on World Tuberculosis Day
to join efforts to halt the advance of tuberculosis, which
affects nearly 400,000 people and kills around 50,000
persons in the Americas every year.
Two new factors have joined to cast a shadow on control of
TB, said Dr. Alleyne: the epidemic of HIV/AIDS and the
appearance of multidrug resistant strains of tuberculosis,
a trend created by the inefficiency of some control
programs in the adequate use of drugs against
tuberculosis.
It was 118 years ago today that Dr. Robert Koch
demonstrated that tuberculosis was infectious disease.
Although since that time microscopes have allowed early
detection of the disease, and effective drugs have been
available for more than 40 years, one third of the world
's population is infected by the TB bacillus. Furthermore,
every year around 8 million people develop active TB, 1.5
million die of TB, and another 400,000 die due to HIV/TB
co-infection, noted Dr. Alleyne.
According to Pan American Health Organization data,
251,613 new cases of tuberculosis were reported in the
Americas in 1998. Over the last 10 years, the figure has
remained relatively stable in the Region, but there is
significant underreporting in some countries with
inefficient control programs.
PAHO has been advocating the application of the DOTS
strategy (Directly Observed Treatment, Short Course). This
strategy, in which health workers make certain TB patients
take their full course of medication, is the most
effective form of control, said Dr. Alleyne. It is the
best way to meet the global targets of identifying 70
percent of new infectious cases and treating at least 85
per cent of them successfully. When a country applies this
strategy, said Dr. Alleyne, it signifies that tuberculosis
is considered as a public health priority, sufficient
resources are set aside for the program, and all new
contagious cases are treated under close supervision.
This year, the majority of countries in the Americas use
the DOTS strategy, but in different degrees, pointed out
Dr. Rodolfo Rodriguez, PAHO's Regional Adviser on TB.
"But greater efforts are needed to extend this strategy to
all parts of every country, so we can interrupt
transmission of TB and avoid the emergence of multidrug
resistant TB strains or their spread within the population
or to other countries," he said.
The differences between countries that use the DOTS
strategy and those that don't use it are evident when you
analyze results of patient treatment, added Dr. Rodriguez.
The eleven countries that used DOTS in 1997, he said,
registered 62,211 TB cases and evaluated results in 94
percent of those cases, achieving successful treatment in
80 percent of the cases and a low dropout rate of 5.3
percent.
Countries that do not use the DOTS strategy notified
65,828 TB cases, evaluated half of those, and reached a
successful treatment rate of only 36.1 percent and a
dropout rate of 15.4 percent, he noted.
Tuberculosis has an important impact on families and
society, Dr. Rodriguez said. When parents become ill,
children face a high risk of getting the disease, and are
affected by the economic hardship if parents can't work,
often quitting school and working to help support the
family. Tuberculosis usually affects people in the most
productive ages, 20 to 55, and is the infectious disease
that kills most women and children, he added.
This year, World TB Day emphasizes the importance of
forging alliances for tuberculosis control beyond the
health sector, involving social organizations and the
community in general. "We all face the risks of
tuberculosis becoming incurable, with basic drugs unable
to cure multiresistant tuberculosis," he added.
"We must mobilize organizations that protect women and
children's health, human rights groups, the groups that
work in HIV/AIDS control, and businesses to make a greater
effort," said Dr. Alleyne. "Only with these alliances we
can expand the coverage with the DOTS strategy and achieve
effective tuberculosis control in the countries of the
Americas," he noted.
The Pan American Health Organization, founded in 1902,
works with all the countries of the Americas to improve
the health and living standards of its peoples. It serves
as the Regional Office of the World Health Organization
and has offices in 27 countries in Latin America and the
Caribbean as well as nine scientific and technical centers
in addition to headquarters in Washington DC.
For further information, photos, or B-roll, contact:
Daniel Epstein, tel. (202) 974-3459, fax (202) 974-3143,
Pan American Health Organization, Office of Public
Information, email [log in to unmask] Internet:
www.paho.org
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