[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 393 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 393

Supporting the goals of World Tuberculosis Day to raise awareness about 
                             tuberculosis.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 24, 2014

    Mr. Brown (for himself and Mr. Isakson) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Supporting the goals of World Tuberculosis Day to raise awareness about 
                             tuberculosis.

Whereas \1/3\ of the population of the world is infected with the tuberculosis 
        bacterium;
Whereas more than 9,500 tuberculosis cases were reported in the United States in 
        2013;
Whereas more than 1,300,000 individuals die from tuberculosis each year;
Whereas over 95 percent of tuberculosis deaths occur in low- and middle-income 
        developing countries;
Whereas tuberculosis is the second leading global infectious disease killer, 
        behind HIV/AIDS, and claims 1,800,000 lives each year;
Whereas tuberculosis is a leading killer of people living with HIV/AIDS, causing 
        \1/5\ of all deaths among people with HIV/AIDS;
Whereas tuberculosis is the third leading killer of adult women, and the stigma 
        associated with tuberculosis disproportionately affects women, causing 
        women to delay seeking care and interfering with treatment adherence;
Whereas the global tuberculosis pandemic and the spread of drug-resistant 
        tuberculosis present a persistent public health threat to the United 
        States;
Whereas according to 2009 data from the World Health Organization, 3.6 percent 
        of all new tuberculosis cases are drug resistant;
Whereas multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (referred to in this preamble as 
        ``MDR-TB'') is present in virtually all countries surveyed;
Whereas approximately 450,000 people around the world developed MDR-TB in 2012;
Whereas extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (referred to in this preamble as 
        ``XDR-TB'') is a strain of tuberculosis that is very difficult and 
        expensive to treat and has high and rapid fatality rates, especially 
        among HIV/AIDS patients;
Whereas there have been more than 63 cases of XDR-TB in the United States 
        between 2004 and 2014;
Whereas as of September 2013, 92 countries have reported at least 1 case of XDR-
        TB;
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated, in 2009, that 
        the cost of hospitalizing a single patient with XDR-TB is $483,000;
Whereas, between 2005 and 2007, the 373 XDR-TB cases in the United States 
        collectively cost the health care system an estimated $53,000,000;
Whereas the death rate of tuberculosis dropped 45 percent between 1990 and 2012;
Whereas the Institute of Medicine found that a decrease in tuberculosis control 
        funding and the spread of HIV/AIDS caused the resurgence of tuberculosis 
        between 1980 and 1992;
Whereas although the number of tuberculosis cases in the United States continues 
        to decline, progress towards eliminating tuberculosis has slowed and the 
        disease does not recognize borders;
Whereas African Americans are 8 times more likely to have tuberculosis than 
        Caucasians, and significant disparities exist among other minorities in 
        the United States, including Native Americans, Asian Americans, and 
        Hispanic Americans;
Whereas over 530,000 children became infected with tuberculosis in 2012;
Whereas tobacco use greatly increases the risk of tuberculosis and death, and 
        more than 20 percent of tuberculosis cases worldwide are attributed to 
        smoking;
Whereas diabetes is a major risk factor for tuberculosis, and people with 
        diabetes are more likely to develop the disease and have a higher risk 
        of death due to the disease;
Whereas a new technology, known as Xpert, developed in the United States, is 
        able to diagnose cases of tuberculosis within 2 hours, and such 
        technology can even diagnose cases that are difficult to detect, such as 
        cases involving individuals living with HIV;
Whereas although drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines for tuberculosis exist, these 
        technologies are antiquated and increasingly inadequate for controlling 
        the global epidemic;
Whereas Xpert can quickly detect resistance to 1 of the primary tuberculosis 
        drugs, but other tests to detect drug resistance take at least 1 month 
        to complete and the medical community must develop even faster drug 
        susceptibility tests to stop the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis;
Whereas Bacillus Calmette-Guerin, a tuberculosis vaccine that is known as 
        ``BCG'', provides some protection to children but has little or no 
        efficacy in preventing pulmonary tuberculosis in adults;
Whereas there is a critical need for the development of tuberculosis drugs that 
        individuals can safely take concurrently with antiretroviral therapy for 
        HIV;
Whereas the Millennium Development Goal of the World Health Organization is to 
        reverse the spread of tuberculosis by 2015;
Whereas the enactment of the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global 
        Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization 
        Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-293; 122 Stat. 2918) and the Comprehensive 
        Tuberculosis Elimination Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-392; 122 Stat. 
        4195) provides a historic United States commitment to the global 
        eradication of tuberculosis, including a commitment to successfully 
        treating 4,500,000 tuberculosis patients and 90,000 MDR-TB patients 
        between 2008 and 2013 and to providing additional treatment through 
        coordinated multilateral efforts;
Whereas the United States Agency for International Development provides 
        financial and technical assistance to nearly 40 highly burdened 
        tuberculosis countries, supports the development of new diagnostic and 
        treatment tools, and is authorized to support research to develop new 
        vaccines to combat tuberculosis;
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, partnering with the 
        other entities of the United States and individual States and 
        territories, directs the national tuberculosis elimination program, 
        directs essential national tuberculosis surveillance, technical 
        assistance, and prevention activities, and supports the development of 
        new diagnostic, treatment, and prevention tools to combat tuberculosis;
Whereas the National Institutes of Health, through its many institutes and 
        centers, plays the leading role in basic and clinical research on the 
        identification, treatment, and prevention of tuberculosis;
Whereas the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria provides 63 
        percent of all international financing for tuberculosis programs;
Whereas the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria finances--

    (1) proposals worth $3,200,000,000 in 112 countries;

    (2) tuberculosis treatment for 6,000,000 people; and

    (3) 1,800,000 HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis services;

Whereas the prevalence and mortality rates of tuberculosis are declining in many 
        countries with programs supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, 
        Tuberculosis, and Malaria; and
Whereas March 24, 2014, is World Tuberculosis Day, a day that commemorates the 
        date in 1882 on which Dr. Robert Koch announced his discovery of 
        Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) supports the goals of World Tuberculosis Day to raise 
        awareness about tuberculosis;
            (2) commends the progress of anti-tuberculosis efforts by 
        entities that include the United States Agency for 
        International Development, the Centers for Disease Control and 
        Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the Global 
        Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; and
            (3) reaffirms the commitment to global tuberculosis control 
        set forth in section 4 of the United States Leadership Against 
        HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 
        7603).
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