Mayo Clinic is a Regional Tuberculosis Training and Medical Consultation Center

Health & Wellness

Mayo Clinic is a Regional Tuberculosis Training and Medical Consultation Center

By
Dana Sparks

January 24, 2013

Mayo Clinic has been designated a Regional Tuberculosis Training and Medical Consultation Center by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It will be responsible for developing new and enhanced training and technical support for medical and public health professionals in an 11-state area.

Why the Need - Tuberculosis (TB) has declined over the years, with the rise of better drugs and public health systems. However, support and training lagged in the 1980s and early ‘90s, resulting in a brief upswing in reported cases in the United States. Renewed emphasis resulted in another decline, to the lowest level on record, but director of Mayo Clinic's Center for Tuberculosis Zelalem Temesgen, M.D., says it should not be accompanied with complacency. Over 10,000 new TB cases were reported in the U.S. in 2011. Globally, TB remains the second leading cause of death from infectious disease, with upwards of 1.5 million deaths in 2010.

Click here for news release