TB Awareness Makes Difference

* The American Lung Assn. of Orange County wants to express its appreciation for your May 5 editorial, “Vigilance Pays on Threat of TB.”

As an organization fighting lung disease in all its forms, the Lung Assn. supports your call for continued careful monitoring of this disease in Orange County.

As your editorial and related May 4 news article noted, the number of tuberculosis cases in Orange County was 330 in 1997, up from 273 the previous year.

It is clear that education is needed in addition to efforts to monitor the disease. To help meet that need, the Lung Assn. and Orange County Health Care Agency recently created comprehensive “TB on the College Campus” manuals that were distributed to health professionals at colleges and universities throughout Orange County.

The manuals include statistics on TB in Orange County, an order form for TB brochures that can be distributed to students, a listing of where and when to get tested, information about who must be notified if a case is detected, and which therapies are effective.

Also included is a curriculum for college health care workers, plus a glossary and other features to help convey information in layperson’s terms. The manuals are already in wide use and have received favorable reviews from health professionals.

DIANE MASSETH-JONES

Executive Director

American Lung Assn.

Santa Ana