{"id":60492,"date":"2017-05-18T16:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-05-19T02:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=60492"},"modified":"2020-03-13T15:29:27","modified_gmt":"2020-03-14T01:29:27","slug":"tb-eradication-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2017\/05\/18\/tb-eradication-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawai\u02bbi medical students take part in international TB<\/abbr> eradication project"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Yusuke Kobayashi and Orlando Salazar, x-ray volunteer from Lanakila Health Center, in Ebeye.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Medical students from the John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/a> traveled more than 2,500 miles to help fight tuberculosis<\/a> (TB) in Ebeye, the most populated island of Kwajalein Atoll, and one of three “hotspots” for tuberculosis in the Pacific region identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The massive TB<\/abbr> screening program was launched last year with registration and record collection. After the data was collected, the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa<\/a> medical students spent three weeks screening some 5,600 residents of Ebeye—the Marshall Islands’ largest-ever effort ever to eradicate the disease. TB<\/abbr> is a bacterial infection that can be fatal. It most often attacks the lungs and can be spread through coughs, but it can also harm other organs.<\/p>\n

Medical students Nash Witten<\/strong> and Yusuke Kobayashi<\/strong> were joined by their faculty advisor, Seiji Yamada<\/a><\/strong> of the JABSOM<\/abbr> Department of Family Medicine and Community Health<\/a>, along with teams of RMI<\/abbr> health workers, regional Pacific TB<\/abbr> staff, international volunteers and representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n

“The members of our team, like us, were volunteers. They were from Australia, India, Palau, RMI<\/abbr> and the states of Nevada, Tennessee, Arkansas and Washington,” said Witten, who graduated\u00a0from medical school this month.\u00a0“The team consisted of four physicians, one TB<\/abbr> nurse, two TB<\/abbr> program coordinators, an x-ray technician from Lanakila Health Center, and the two of us University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> students.”<\/p>\n

Funding for the John A. Burns School of Medicine students’ travel to the Marshall Islands came from the medical school’s Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Pacific Basin Area Health Education Center<\/a>, which supports efforts to train future healthcare workers for Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and the Pacific.<\/p>\n

For more, read the full story on the John A. Burns School of Medicine website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

—By Tina Shelton<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UH<\/abbr> medical students spent three weeks screening some 5,600 residents of Ebeye—the Marshall Islands’ largest-ever effort ever to eradicate TB<\/abbr>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":60520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[165,134,31,9],"class_list":["post-60492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-health","tag-international","tag-john-a-burns-school-of-medicine","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t