By Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – Health officials say fewer than 200 cases of tuberculosis were reported in Alabama last year for the first time since records began being kept in 1923. There were 196 cases of T-B in 2006, which was down from 216 in 2005. Assistant State Health Officer Doctor Charles Woernle delivered an update of Alabama's T-B situation to the State Health Committee Wednesday.
Health officials attributed the drop to long-term efforts to diagnose cases early and patients receiving health care in earlier stages of the disease. The record-low number of cases came despite a T-B outbreak at the University of Alabama in Huntsville late last year. Six cases were reported in that outbreak, which lasted from mid-November to the end of December, and one student died.
Woernle said the state's TB Medical Advisory Council will meet at the end of the month and discuss whether to make T-B screening standardized throughout Alabama. The highest number of T-B cases recorded in one year in Alabama was 5,066 in 1931.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)