Researchers at UBC and the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute have discovered how tuberculosis (TB) bacteria hide and multiply in the human body. With this exciting discovery, they are now working toward a treatment to block this mechanism of infection. TB Vets Charitable Foundation, as well as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, funded this research. We are tremendously proud to have contributed to this breakthrough.

A report on this discovery was published yesterday in the journal Cell Host and Microbe. Read the report here.

While the tuberculosis bacteria was discovered by Robert Koch in 1882, scientists have not been able, until now, to trace exactly how the TB bacteria interacted with cells in the human body. This discovery will enable new treatments for TB, a disease which kills one person every 20 seconds.

Your donations to TB Vets have made it possible for us to support this research. Thank you so much!

For more information on this discovery, read UBC’s press release.

Every year, our keytag campaign is mailed in the last week of December. January, February and March are very busy at TB Vets, as we process all the mail that comes in. British Columbians are extremely generous to TB Vets. Thank you so much! Your donations provide employment to people with disabilities, and funding to help BC breathe. We would not be here without your support.

While the mail has slowed down, there is not much time to catch our breath. We have already begun to plan for next year’s mailing. We send out 350,000 keytags to British Columbians each year, and we make all of the keytags and assemble the mail packages right here in our facility in Burnaby. It takes a long time to stuff that many envelopes. To give you an idea of how much work we have to do, here is a picture of our warehouse, on the day we mail the keytags. Every cage is filled with letters:

Even though we are starting to plan for next year’s campaign, it is not to late to get 2008 keytags! If you haven’t received yours, give us a call at 1-888-874-5626 or visit our Keytag Order Form. We try very hard to make sure that our database is accurate, but every year we do miss a few regular donors, or send out a letter in error. If a mistake does happen, please let us know, and we will correct the problem right away.

Ah, spring… Can you believe it’s April already?! This season always fills me with a sense of hope and promise. Here’s a little poem I wrote to mark the occasion:

Seeds of Hope

April’s showers bring May’s flowers
Or so the saying goes
If keytags are seeds and your gifts are the water
Will you help our garden grow?
A breath of hope for young and old
Is what we aim to see
More and more people just living their lives
Across our Beautiful BC

Through our keytag and other fundraising campaigns, TB Vets is planting the seeds of help for people struggling just to breathe. Your support helps fund live-saving respiratory equipment that gives others the chance to see another spring.

We look forward to growing with you for many years to come.

March 24 is World TB Day. In North America tuberculosis (TB) tends to be dismissed as a minor threat or an illness of the 19^th century. However, with widespread travel to countries where TB is prevalent and the emergence of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) this disease is making a come back.

In a new report, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there are nearly half a million new cases of MDR-TB diagnosed worldwide each year. That represents about 5% of the nine million new TB cases globally. Because of how difficult it is to cure MDR-TB, the WHO suggests that if we don’t act now we could lose the battle against TB.

TB is also making headlines closer to home. Port Alberni had a TB outbreak in 2006 where 33 cases are still active and four people died with the disease. And in February of this year, the BC Centre for Disease Control and the Interior Health Authority issued a public health advisory to warn Greyhound passengers that they were exposed to an active case of tuberculosis.

TB Vets Charitable Foundation has been funding research into the causes and treatment of tuberculosis since 1946. Your support allows this vital work to continue.

WHO TB Report Links:

WHO reports high rates of drug-resistant TB
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080226/
tuberculosis_who_080226/20080226?hub=World

Drug Resistant TB Rising Globally, WHO Survey
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/98688.php

New survey finds highest rates of drug-resistant TB to date
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2008/pr05/en/index.html

Drug-resistant TB at all-time high: WHO
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/02/27/multidrugresistant-tb.html?ref=rss

New York City: Drug Resistant TB Epidemic
http://www.mediascrape.com/News/
ViewNewsItem.aspx?newsItemId=39702&rootVideoPanelType=1

Local TB Links:

Facts on Tuberculosis
http://www.westcoaster.ca/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=3916

TB case on Greyhound Bus #1015
http://www.bccdc.org/news.php?
item=238&PHPSESSID=51216728cef12776843025dd50c01d71

World TB Day Links:

World TB Day 2008
http://www.stoptb.org/

World TB Day: You can stop TB. Join us.
http://www.stoptb.org/events/world_tb_day/2008/

World TB Day
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/annual/world_tb_day/en/index.html

International Infectious Disease Conference Link:

Vancouver Set to Host AMMI Canada - CACMID Annual Conference 2008
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2008/12/c9106.html

On Feburary 18, 2008, at the Burnaby City Council meeting, Burnaby Mayor Derick Corrigan declared that March 4, 2008, will be known as “TB Vets Day” in the City of Burnaby. Here is the proclamation:

“TB VETS DAY”

WHEREAS Since 1946, TB Vets has provided grants in excess of $10 million to purchase vital respiratory equipment in B.C. hospitals, fund local respiratory research and education, and support the training of future Respiratory Therapists; and

WHEREAS it is estimated that 17,000 people in Canada are infected with active tuberculosis and, left untreated, a person with active TB can infect 10 to 15 people each year; and

WHEREAS for more than 16 years, TB Vets Charitable Foundation has donated approximately $170,000 for Respiratory Care to Burnaby Hospital; and

WHEREAS donations ensure that patients have access to the best medical equipment possible and donations also support doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, and other medical professions so that they can provide outstanding patient care; and

WHEREAS TB Vets plan to help educate citizens of Burnaby about respiratory ailments (tuberculosis, asthma and cystic fibrosis) through their website and will also reach out to Burnaby elementary schools to invite them to attend an open house to learn about these ailments and also to visit the TB Vets facility.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT I, DEREK R. CORRIGAN, MAYOR OF BURNABY DO HEREBY PROCLAIM TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 2008 AS

“TB VETS DAY”

IN THE CITY OF BURNABY.

Derek R. Corrigan

M A Y O R

Dated this 18^th day of February, 2008 AD

Everyone at TB Vets is extremely honoured. To celebrate, TB Vets is holding an Open House on March 4, from 9 am to 3 pm. Five Burnaby elementary school classes will tour our facilities, and members of the general public are welcome to come for a tour as well. We are located at 4050 Graveley St., Burnaby, BC.

The celebrations continue on March 6, with Fore! TB Vets–An Indoor Golf Tournament. Nine holes of mini golf will be set up throughout our building. Come play, and learn how TB Vets employs people with disabilities and helps BC breathe! Tickets are $25 each, or four for $80. To reserve your tickets, call 604-874-5626 or email events@tbvets.org.

Happy TB Vets Day, everyone!

In the immortal words of Robert Burns, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.” Here at TB Vets, we had hoped to offer our donors automatic email receipts for online donations starting on January 1, 2008. However, better late than never! We are proud to announce that as of February 15, 2008, everyone who donates online will now receive an automatic email receipt.

I hope that this will make online donations easier for you. Every donation to TB Vets means so much to the men, women and children across British Columbia who struggle with respiratory distress.

To make an online donation, click here.

Let me know what you think of our new forms.