Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 28, 1994 TAG: 9410280079
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ATLANTA LENGTH: Medium
The changes were prompted by an increasing number of TB patients who don't respond to drug treatment, and by outbreaks in hospitals and prisons.
The guidelines call for the use of masks that block smaller particles than the type now used and for the use of ultraviolet light to kill airborne TB germs. Standards for ventilation and hospital record-keeping were also tightened.
``This is an important step in providing protection in a place of very great risk,'' said Dr. Alan Hinman, director of the CDC's National Center for Prevention Services.
The guidelines - which apply to hospitals, prisons, medical and dental offices and nursing homes - will be issued today and give the CDC a way to tackle the problem of drug resistance, which Hinman called ``one of the scariest aspects."
Hospital representatives said the CDC's proposal would cost a typical 300-bed hospital about $200,000 and that there's no proof workers have been infected in hospitals that follow the old rules.
The American Hospital Association, which was critical of the proposals, wouldn't comment until it has a copy of the final standards.
Tuberculosis declined in the United States for 30 years until 1985, when it began to skyrocket, mostly because of AIDS sufferers' susceptibility and an increase in immigrants carrying the infection.
Active TB is spread by coughing or sneezing but is usually treatable. In recent years, however, drug-resistant strains have developed. About 1,500 people died of TB in the United States last year.
by CNB