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NTCA and Tuberculosis

The National Tuberculosis Controllers Association (NTCA) is a membership organization whose mission is to eradicate tuberculosis in the United States. Association members are tuberculosis control program leaders, medical professionals and representatives of at-risk populations. These officials have the authority and responsibility to carry out tuberculosis prevention and control programs in their jurisdictions. The NTCA was founded in 1995, along with the National Tuberculosis Nurse Coalition. Both groups are nonprofit organizations.

  1. National Tuberculosis Nurse Coalition (NTNC)

    • The NTNC is a program of the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association. Nursing coalition members supports tuberculosis program controllers in their communities. The members also coordinate education and training programs, advocate for prevention and control at the local level and assist local communities in determining the role of public health nurses.

    Tuberculosis

    • Tuberculosis (TB), once the leading cause of death in the U.S., is an infectious disease that can be fatal if not treated. The airborne disease usually affects the lungs but it can affect other organs. Tuberculosis is no longer contagious once it is treated. A person can have a latent TB infection with no symptoms and not infect others. People with active TB, or TB disease, show symptoms and can affect others. TB is the focus of local and federal public health efforts to educate people about the disease and to prevent it from becoming widespread.

    Tuberculosis Surveillance

    • Public health departments report all tuberculosis cases to the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There are 60 reporting jurisdictions throughout the U.S. and its territories and possessions. This data, the result of what the CDC refers as a surveillance program, is used to evaluate outbreaks and control efforts.

    Disease Control

    • NTCA works with the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination to track and respond to tuberculosis outbreaks. NTCA also works with its members to plan and execute prevention and control initiatives across the country. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control show 12,904 tuberculosis cases in 2008 and that a third of the world's population is infected with the disease.

    Technical Assistance and Support

    • NTCA and the nurses' coalition work to publicize protocols for tuberculosis response, government policies and laws concerning tuberculosis. NTCA hosts work groups that focus on areas such as genotyping, information technology, workforce development, legal issues and corrections facilities.

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