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Congress must look at border health crisis
by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
Published in the El Paso Times November 2, 2007
In Texas, and throughout the United States, tuberculosis is emerging as a very serious health problem.
In our state's border communities, the rate of TB infection is much higher than it is in either Mexico or Texas as a whole.
Thankfully, there has been a cure for TB for 50 years, and the disease can be successfully contained.
For years, federal research to develop new and better TB diagnostics, drugs and an effective vaccine have not kept up with demand. It's been 40 years since the newest TB drug came to market, and the vaccine only inoculates children. Recently, I joined with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to introduce The Comprehensive TB Elimination Act of 2007. This will fight the re-emergence of TB along the Texas border and combat the disease globally.
On Tuesday, the Senate held a hearing on this issue -- and I am working to make sure this legislation moves through the full Senate.
Our bill will provide the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with the authority to respond to international outbreaks of Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR-TB), and increase funding for the Center's National Program for the Elimination of Tuberculosis.
The bill would expand TB research at the CDC and the National Institutes of Health into new diagnostic and treatment tools, testing the safety and efficacy of new vaccines in at-risk populations, the sturdy relationship between TB and HIV/AIDS, and effective public health interventions.
Our legislation will expand CDC efforts to prevent, detect, and treat TB, with an emphasis on groups with disproportionately high infection rates. It will also increase training and education for health professionals and the public.
It is my hope that the Texas Tech School of Medicine in El Paso, the University of Texas at El Paso, the Irma Rangel School of Pharmacy in Kingsville and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, will collaborate with each other and work to help eradicate TB.
The Comprehensive Tuberculosis Elimination Act of 2007 will also enlist the help of the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission, which I helped create and locate in El Paso, to find solutions to this problem. I will continue to work with Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici of New Mexico to pass S. 1798, The Border Health Security Act of 2007, to fund the Commission as it seeks to implement its mission.
One of the projects I have been proud to support is the Center for Research in New and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases at Texas Tech El Paso. Since fiscal year 2005, we have secured $1.1 million for this outstanding institution so it can continue its breakthrough research in a globally important field. And this year, our Senate bill provides an additional $500,000.
By bringing the expertise at Texas Tech El Paso and the Border Health Commission to the table, we will help eliminate TB.
Given the urgency of extremely drug resistant tuberculosis, members of Congress should make it a priority to pass the Comprehensive TB Elimination Act of 2007, and The Border Health Security Act of 2007.
By working together, we can eliminate this awful disease.
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