TB Cases On The Rise: Marin Health Experts Urge Awareness

MARIN COUNTY, CA – Although tuberculosis is relatively rare in Marin County, local health officials have logged an uptick in the deadly and preventable disease and continue to advocate for increased testing and treatment of latent TB infection.

To date in 2019, three local cases were reported, which is more than half of 2018’s total of five, according to the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services.

Reported cases statewide are on the rise, as well, officials from the county's Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Program said, noting that the current push for awareness coincides with this year’s World TB Day on March 24, with a theme of: It’s Time!

The California Department of Public Health said 2,091 new cases of tuberculosis were identified statewide in 2018, up from 2,059 cases in 2017. TB still is one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases and one of the top 10 causes of death -- causing more deaths per year than HIV/AIDS, officials said.

Latent TB infection means an individual has the germ that causes TB, but it is not yet making them sick, officials exlained.

“Treatment of latent TB infection is essential to achieve a TB-free California,” said Dr. Lisa Santora, Marin’s Deputy Public Health Officer. “TB can affect anyone. Many patients with latent and active TB are not aware that they have been infected. Health care providers need to continue to think of TB as a possibility and screen appropriately.”

TB primarily is acquired through close contact with an infected person and can be acquired through international travel -- meaning travelers should avoid prolonged contact with known TB patients in such crowded, enclosed environments as clinics, hospitals or prisons, officials said.

Most individuals with latent TB infection have not been diagnosed and treated, have no symptoms and are not contagious, but without treatment they are at risk for becoming sick with TB disease in the future.

Symptoms of TB can include a cough for more than two to three weeks, coughing up blood, shortness of breath, fever, night sweats and weight loss, health authorities said. Patients with active TB must remain isolated and take medication until they are not infectious.

People born outside of the United States experience higher TB rates compared to their U.S.-born counterparts, with the highest rates in Marin among Hispanics, according to the county. Others at high risk for TB include those who have traveled to or lived in a country with an elevated TB rate, have weakened immune systems or have come in close contact to someone with infectious TB, medical officials said.

Marin HHS urges anyone in a high-risk category to take an online risk assessment and ask a health-care provider about TB testing and treatment.

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