Dear Health Care Provider,
Thank you for your interest in the County of Orange Health Care Agency Tuberculosis (TB) Control Program. TB remains one of the world’s deadliest diseases, with almost 2 million TB-related deaths worldwide every year. TB lies dormant in one in three people, and each year, over 10 million people around the world become sick with TB. In 2017, TB rates in California remained unchanged as compared to 2016 and the TB rates in United States decreased 2.5% as compared to 2016. More locally, in 2017, Orange County reported 186 TB cases, which represents a 17% decrease since 2010 when a 10-year high of 224 cases were reported and a 57% decrease from a historic high of 430 cases reported in 1993. However, as compared to 2016, the TB rate in Orange County increased 11.5% from 5.2 to 5.8 cases per 100,000 population. This case rate increase shows that TB remains a significant problem in Orange County and we urge community health care providers to stay alert to the symptoms of TB disease in patients and to promptly diagnose and report patients with TB to our program. Without your continued support and collaboration, we cannot succeed in our efforts to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, TB in Orange County.
This website contains TB educational materials, including a list of clinic and laboratory services the Orange County TB Control Program provides, TB case reporting forms, and updated information on the diagnosis and treatment of latent TB infection and TB disease and the use of interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) tests.
Thank you again for your assistance and interest in protecting Public Health. Please do not hesitate to call me at (714) 834-8243, if you have questions or if I can be of further assistance to you.
Sincerely,
Julie Low, MD
TB Controller,
County of Orange
