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SHORT-TERM TB PREVENTION TREATMENT CALLED NATIONAL PRIORITY

Data from a two-year study in Atlanta, Georgia, designed to evaluate tuberculosis (TB) screening in high-risk, inner city residents, showed a disappointing 20 percent completion rate for long-term preventive therapy. Eligible persons who screened positive received six- to 12-month drug treatment. The study's poor results caused the researchers to call for amending the ATS/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guidelines for Preventive Therapy to emphasize newer, successful two- to four-month drug treatment. In their paper, they called significant changes in the current approach a national priority in order to further accelerate the decline in TB case rates in urban areas. The study appears in the January issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

OCCUPATIONAL AIRWAY OBSTRUCTION FOR APPRENTICE MACHINISTS

Apprentice machinists in Vancouver, British Columbia, exposed over a two-year period to water- based metalworking fluids, developed bronchial hyperresponsiveness with asthma-like symptoms. The Canadian investigators studied 82 apprentice machinists and 159 control subjects from another field. They found that the metal workers had increased bronchial problems at double the rate of the control subjects. Their research appears in the January issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

ATS CONSENSUS STATEMENT ON SIGNIFICANT BREATHLESSNESS

Significant breathlessness, called dyspnea, is a serious problem for many persons in the U.S. For example, the symptoms can affect approximately 14 million Americans who suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and 10 million (5 percent of the population) who have asthma. In the January issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the ATS published a consensus statement on dyspnea, emphasizing treatment options. Therapeutic interventions discussed include exercise training, medications, use of electrical fans to cool the face, altered breathing pattern training, continuous positive airway pressure, nutritional repletion, changing body positioning, steroids, and cognitive/behavioral approaches.

For the complete text of the articles, see the ATS Journal Online Website at www.atsjournals.org. To request complimentary journalist access to the site, or to be put on a mailing list for a monthly ATS Media Memo and Â鶹´«Ã½ Briefs, please contact Lori Atkins at (212) 315-6442, by fax at (212) 315-6455, or [email protected].

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