U.S. must do its share in TB fight

Tuesday, Mar. 26, 2009

March 26 Readers' letters

U.S. must do its share in TB fight

While here in Santa Clara County we measure TB cases in the low hundreds, globally, the trends are far scarier. One-third of humanity carries the TB bacillus in their bodies and 1.7 million people died of TB last year.

The article (Page 4B, March 23) on tuberculosis raises new concerns as to how far and quickly the disease is spreading. Because the world has failed to adequately detect and treat normal TB, drug-resistant TB now further raises our threat level.

We must keep our international promise and fund proven programs to save many lives here and abroad. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Reps. Mike Honda, Zoe Lofgren and Anna Eshoo should urge Congress to provide the U.S. fair share of $2.7 billion for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and malaria.

Bruce Preville
Los Gatos