Press Release from RIBI

ROTARY'S LEAFLET BLITZ TO ALERT THE NATION TO THE THREAT OF TB

30 October 2001

Rotary clubs throughout Britain and Ireland are this month distributing nearly half a million leaflets to create awareness of the threat of TB. Rotary has formed a partnership with the UK’s leading charity TB Alert to increase awareness of the killer disease and to raise funds to combat it. Leaflets are being distributed by Rotarians at schools, libraries, shopping centres, hospitals, leisure centres and doctors surgeries and many other outlets.

At home, new cases of TB have been emerging at a worrying rate: there were around 8,000 last year in Britain and Ireland alone, an increase of 10 per cent on 1999 and it appears to be showing no sign of abating.

Globally the situation is one of continuing severity. Every day last year more than 23,000 new cases were reported and a staggering 5,000 people died.

TB Alert was founded in 1998 as the first TB-specific charity in the UK since the 60s. It aims to increase awareness and to raise funds to support work at home and abroad in combating the disease. Rotary sees its part in supporting this work as entirely in line with its philosophy of helping causes that have a major impact on the community.

Says Rotary’s President David Liddiatt: ‘’Rotary believes TB is a major issue for communities at home and abroad. Part of the problem is that everyone assumes the disease went away a long time ago, and that the recent cases we’ve heard about in the UK and Ireland are just an aberration, but that’s not the case. As the biggest service organisation if its kind, Rotary is ideally placed to support TB Alert in its awareness and fund-raising efforts.’’

TB Alert’s Paul Sommerfeld confirms that TB is no respecter of people and is not just a disease of deprivation and poor living conditions. “A vital message of our joint campaign is that TB can strike anyone at any time, as the infections suffered by children at the London-based private nursery recently showed.” His concern is that people in developed countries like the UK that are relatively well off and in good health are increasingly having their TB symptoms misdiagnosed because it’s thought to be a disease of poverty. Public and health care staff assumptions that TB was overcome in the 50s and 60s further hinder diagnosis too.

Ian McCartney MP Minister for Pensions comments 'Like millions of others in Britain, I believed my lifestyle cocooned me from many of the dangers to which those in less fortunate circumstances are subject. I was wrong. Back in 1992 as a Member of Parliament for a northern constituency I had begun to grow increasingly tired and listless. Both emotionally and physically my life just seemed to be ebbing away. Yet nobody seemed to have an explanation. Finally I was diagnosed as suffering from TB.

I didn't feel relieved, only angry and frustrated that a disease 'from the past' was staring me in the face. I found I was not alone in my shock that TB could affect someone like me or that I had trouble being correctly diagnosed. It is clear we need to create new and powerful lobbies to help save millions of lives by publicising the threat of TB here and abroad.

I greatly welcome the partnership of TB Alert and Rotary as a significant milestone along the path of awareness and action and will help people Think TB in the UK and Ireland, as well as globally.'

TB has been cited by world leaders in recent conferences as one of the three worst killer diseases in the world today, along with malaria and Aids. In 2000 alone, 8.5 million people had the disease, and two million died for lack of proper treatment.

TB Alert leaflets are available throughout the country. Contact Don Carsley for further information (01446 730669 or email djc@dcarsley.fsnet.co.uk).

Ends

Further Details

Issued on behalf of Robin Freeman Secretary Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland Telephone 01789 765411 www.rotary-ribi.org

For further details about this press release, please contact Judith Diment, on 01628 672965

· For information on Rotary in your area, contact the local Rotary Club President. Details from Robin Freeman: 01789 765411

Notes to editors:

· The TB Alert partnership with Rotary was launched on July 17th at Royal Society of Medicine chaired by Rosie Millard, BBC-TV Arts Correspondent, whose father Dr John Millard is a specialist in treating TB

· TB is caused by bacteria and is transmitted in a similar way to the common cold, but needs more prolonged contact.

· Common symptoms include persistent cough that last for many weeks, unexplained weight loss, night sweats and fevers.

· Treatment with antibiotics lasts six months and patients can continue normal family life and work.

· A patient is no longer infectious within two weeks of starting treatment.

· The BCG vaccine is normally given in the UK at age 14. It protects about 75 per cent of those who receive it for about 15 years. Revaccination has little effect.

· Although vaccination is important, it is only one tool in the armoury for combating TB. Effective detection, diagnosis and treatment are more important.

· Rotary is an organisation of businesses and professional persons united world-wide, who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help to build goodwill and peace in the world. Their motto is: Service above Self.

· TB Alert was founded in 1998 as the first TB-specific charity in the UK since the 60s, when the disease was thought – wrongly, it now transpires – to pose no further threat, and other organisations associated with it disbanded. Its role is to increase awareness and to raise funds to support work at home and abroad in combating the disease. Rotary sees its own part in supporting this work as entirely in line with its philosophy of helping causes that have a major impact on the community.