Sherrod Brown: “every day an estimated 4,400 lives are lost around the world to tuberculosis--day in, day out, yesterday, today, and…”

“every day an estimated 4,400 lives are lost around the world to tuberculosis--day in, day out, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Fifteen lives will be lost, roughly, in the few minutes of my remarks. Tuberculosis is an urgent global crisis that demands our attention and our response. Two billion people--two billion people--one-third of the world's population, carry around with them the tuberculosis bacterium. As many as 10 million to 15 million in the United States alone are infected with the TB bacterium. Most will not get sick, but many of them are in some jeopardy. Nine million people, practically the population of my State of Ohio, become sick with active tuberculosis every year, and 1.6 million people will die. We struggle with many diseases that are beyond our scientific understanding, but tuberculosis is not one of them. These deaths are preventable. TB is the greatest curable infectious killer worldwide. Much of the good work of the legislation this Senate passed last night will be undermined if we do not do a better job of controlling tuberculosis. Our investments in development will do little to improve economic conditions if entire populations--as are so many in Africa, especially, and India, especially--are reeling from this disease. Combating TB is fundamental to sustaining economic development in poor countries.”