Did you know that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Tuberculosis (TB) is the world's leading infectious disease killer? Tuberculosis is a respiratory disease that spreads from someone with active Tuberculosis when they cough or speak. The bacteria can live in the air and those that breath it in may become sick through prolonged exposure with someone with the disease. TB often causes cough (lasting 3 weeks or longer), weight loss and night sweats and is typically tested for through a blood test or chest x-ray. Tuberculosis is treated with an extensive course of antibiotics that help to kill the bacteria, which is the best way to help prevent TB from spreading to others as well as further illness to those with the disease.

Cases of reportable disease in the state of Ohio are reported by providers and laboratories to local health departments using a system called Ohio Disease Report System (ODRS). This allows for local health departments (LHDs) to accurately monitor and investigate any case of disease requiring follow-up, isolation/exclusion, or guidance to prevent further transmission. This also allows LHDs to collect accurate data on how many cases of certain disease they have in their county to create graphs like the one you see! Using data from previous years, public health professionals can create threshold data to get a detailed prediction of what is “normal” for their county during a specific period.

When Licking County Health Department (LCHD) receives a report of a potential Tuberculosis (TB) case, LCHD will work with the diagnosing doctor to help get the case much needed testing and medication. LCHD staff will visit the residence of a case to do interviews to figure out where they may have gotten sick from and collect sputum (or phlegm) to test at the state laboratory for further results. If a case is diagnosed with active Tuberculosis, LCHD will deliver medications to the case and monitor their compliance to ensure they are taking the antibiotics appropriately. This helps to prevent failures in treatment and multi-drug-resistant TB.

Licking County Health Department (LCHD) works with a wide variety of providers that see Tuberculosis cases to get the required testing and medications needed to prevent further transmission. This includes constant communication with doctors to stay up to date on the progress of cases. LCHD also partners with local pharmacies to get Tuberculosis antibiotics, which can often be difficult to obtain.