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Region supports global TB plan Today-- World TB Day-- organizations around the world reaffirm their commitment to stop the spread of tuberculosis (TB). Each year, nearly two million people die and nine million become sick from TB. Through global action, 14 million lives could be saved in the next 10 years, and TB could be eliminated by 2050. With over 400 partners, including the World Health Organization, governments, industry, health care agencies, and humanitarians, Halton Region is supporting The Global Plan to Stop TB. One key component of the Plan requires making DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment Strategy) the worldwide standard of care. DOTS requires a health care worker to watch the person receiving TB treatment take their medications. As TB treatment can last for years, people being treated benefit from support and encouragement to take their medication properly and completely. Approximately 700 cases of TB disease are diagnosed each year in Ontario-- 6 to 10 are in Halton residents. Medications to treat TB are provided free in Ontario through public health. DOTS is in place in Halton for those with active TB of the lung. TB is preventable, treatable, and curable. "TB is a disease that requires public health attention and vigilance to stop its spread around the world and locally," said Dr. Bob Nosal, Halton Region's Medical Officer of Health. Symptoms of TB disease include cough, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, weight loss, fever, fatigue, chills, night sweats, coughing up blood, and weakness. Anyone with these symptoms should see a doctor. TB can affect almost any part of the body. However, active TB of the lung is the most worrisome as it can spread from one person to another. The TB bacteria are exhaled on moisture droplets during singing, coughing, sneezing, and breathing. One of the challenges with TB is finding new ways to manage people who have HIV and TB infection at the same time. When both infections are present, each disease speeds the progress of the other making treatment difficult and costly. Drug resistance from inadequate or improper drug therapy adds to the cost and difficulty of treating the disease. The Global Plan provides direction on developing new tests, more and better drugs to treat the TB in less time, better access to care, and a new vaccine to prevent TB. Anyone who has prolonged contact with an infectious case of TB is at risk of TB infection. People who come from countries with high rates of TB are at greater risk of disease because of exposures, as are people with conditions that impair the body's ability to fight infections. The homeless, people who live in close and crowded conditions or in institutions, and the elderly are at greater risk of TB disease. For more information about TB and the Global Plan to Stop TB, please visit the Halton Region Health Department website at www.halton.ca, or call 905825-6000, toll-free 1-866-4HALTON (1866-442-5866), TTY 905-827-90833.