Ga. Public Health Department raises awareness for World TB Day

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - March 24 marks World Tuberculosis Day.

While COVID-19 has dominated the lives of all of us for the last two years, there are still other diseases, like TB, to be concerned about.

World TB Day is a day to raise public awareness about the devastating consequences of the disease.

This disease claims thousands of lives daily around the globe.

Local health officials say the emergence of multidrug-resistant poses a major health threat.

Symptoms of an active TB diagnosis include a productive cough lasting more than three weeks, fever, chills, night sweats, loss of appetite, weight loss and coughing up blood.

One local health department official said people who contract TB must make sure they finish all medications regardless of how they feel.

“In 2019, we had a 92 percent rate of people who completed their medication and that’s wonderful because that’s the hard part about it – that when people get on the medication, it takes several months to complete the regimen. So, a lot of times people stop taking the medication and so they don’t get well,” said Pamela Kirkland with the West Central Health District.

According to the CDC, Georgia ranked sixth in the United States for the number of new TB cases and ninth for the national TB case rate.

TB testing is available at all 16 health departments in the West Central Health District.

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