|
The Department of Health STD/HIV/TB Program invites residents to register for its annual walk-a-thon on March 24, 2012, in commemoration of World TB Day.
The walk-a-thon will begin at 7 a.m. on Saturday, March 24, 2012 at Yacht Haven Grande and end at Emile Griffith Ball Park. Lauris Harley, Territorial TB Disease Control and Prevention Coordinator at the Department of Health is organizing the walk-a-thon, for the second year to raise awareness about the global epidemic and efforts to eliminate the disease.
Tuberculosis or TB is an infectious disease that normally attacks the lungs, but can attack almost any part of the body. It spreads from person to person through the air when a person with active TB coughs, sings, or speaks and individuals breathe in the air contaminated with the TB germ.
Signs and symptoms of TB include fatigue, loss of appetite, fever, weight loss, coughing up of blood and night sweats. Residents, who experience these symptoms, should contact a medical provider immediately or a Health Department STD/HIV/TB clinic in their district, 774-3168 on St. Thomas or 773-1311 on St. Croix. Clinics are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
World TB Day is recognized annually on March 24 as the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch astounded the scientific community by announcing that he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis. Koch’s discovery opened the way towards diagnosing and curing TB.
For more about World TB Day visit
http://www.cdc.gov/tb/events/WorldTBDay/default.htm .
To register for the walk-a-thon and for more information on TB, contact Lauris Harley at 774-0127. |
