Congress needs to act
Your article on tuberculosis [“Washington saw rise in number of TB cases,” NWThursday, March 25] points out that the disease has increased in Washington state, and that we have the drug-resistant variety too.
In 2008, 150,000 people around the world died from drug-resistant TB. In 1999, a Washington man was cured of multidrug-resistant TB — at the cost of $500,000 and four years of treatment, including many hospitalizations.
Since then, some county health departments have nearly gone bankrupt treating patients with drug-resistant TB. While Congress has authorized money to make a difference with this disease, thus far they have failed to appropriate much. Hopefully, Congress will act now, while it is still possible to control TB.
— Bob Dickerson, Seattle