CNMI to commemorate World Tuberculosis Day on March 24

The CNMI is joining the rest of the world in observing World TB Day on March 24 with the theme “TB Elimination: Now Is the Time!”

The CNMI TB Control Program held a news briefing Wednesday afternoon at the Department of Public Health conference room. Medical director for TB Control and Nurse consultant Susan Schorr led the media presentation with DPH deputy secretary Lynn Tenorio.

Division of Pubic Health medical director Richard Brostrom, who is also TB Control Program medical director, said the program aims to raise awareness about controlling and stopping this transmissable disease, which could be fatal if not treated immediately.

Schorr said the program would be aggressively disseminating a lot of information to the public, distributing flyers and brochures all over the island and holding several presentations to groups and organizations such as the Saipan Chamber of Commerce.

The group will also join John Gonzales in his weekly TV show on MCV to talk more about the disease, air radio plugs and grace radio shows.

The CNMI TB Program will also be visible in supermarkets, other stores and community health fairs to distribute flyers and information materials to better equip the CNMI public with information about the disease.

Schorr said patients have misconceptions that TB does not kill. This is false, she said, in that the disease could kill if not treated.

Brostrom admitted that part of the challenges the CNMI health agency faces is in reaching out more effectively to the community and to families who are not aware that TB is highly contagious and should not be taken for granted.

Another challenge, he said, is manpower, since tending to more than 32,000 patients in the CNMI would always be a challenge to the program.

Tenorio said the new administration wants to help in “getting the word out” to the public about tuberculosis.

TB is treated using the Direct Observation Treatment Short course across a six-month period. Brostrom said this has been practiced in the Commonwealth for years now.

Schorr said that patients with the disease are accepted at the hospital and are immediately diagnosed. The patients are given medications to be taken at home for six months. The treatment is free of charge.

Tuberculosis remains rampant in the Commonwealth, with one new TB case diagnosed each week in 2005. Brostrom said there have been about 500 TB cases in the Commonwealth since 1998. This number includes 57 new cases diagnosed in 2005.

The CNMI has the highest TB rate in the United States, he added.

In the U.S. mainland, only one in 100,000 people is likely to contract TB. In Hawaii, the ratio is 13:100,000 while in Guam, it is 20:100,000. But in the CNMI, the ratio is 80:100,000.

The number has always been high, even before the CNMI allowed foreign workers into the islands, Brostrom said. He also said, however, that the TB rate among Chinese and Filipino workers in the Commonwealth was exactly the same as in their respective countries.

He added that a number of foreign workers diagnosed with TB came to the islands without any symptoms of the disease.

“Each of those diagnosed with the disease were treated for free. We have no illusions that we can eradicate TB, but we would certainly like the number of TB cases to go down,” he said.