by Shane Hylton
Columnist

There has been an increase in Grand Forks recently that I must admit has made me a bit concerned. Recently, we had an increase in the number of tuberculosis (TB) cases. You hear about all of the stories regarding TB and what it can do to a person. After a bit of research, I was able to find out some information that put me at a bit of ease. First, the Grand Forks Public Health Department as well as the North Dakota Department of Health have been investigating the Tuberculosis cluster in Grand Forks County. As of this last week there are ten confirmed active cases of TB in Grand Forks. To date, all confirmed active cases of TB have been connected. Of the confirmed cases, two have been students at Phoenix Elementary School in the Grand Forks School District. Those two students have been excluded from school until they are cleared by a healthcare professional. So it seems that the cases of TB have been contained as of now. If you are concerned, please go get a TB test to be sure. The Grand Forks Public Health Department provides TB skin testing to screen for Latent TB Infection, also known as Inactive TB. They provide medication, counseling and monitoring free of charge for anyone with inactive TB or with active TB disease.

General symptoms of TB include feeling sick or weak, weight loss, fever and night sweats. Symptoms of TB of the lungs include productive, prolonged cough (three weeks or longer), chest pain, and coughing up blood. The most important way to stop the spread of TB is to cover the mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing. TB is spread when someone with active TB, coughs, sneezes, etc. and someone else breaths in the particles that are sent into the air. TB is a fragile disease and you must have very close contact in a small space with the infected person in order to come down with TB. You cannot get TB from someone’s clothes, drinking glass, eating utensils, handshake, toilet or other surface. You also can’t get TB on the playground, hallway, in a shopping mall, restaurant or through other casual contact.

For more information please call Grand Forks Public Health at (701) 787-8100 or log on to www.grandforksgov.com/publichealth.

Well, it’s Thanksgiving and we are all celebrating with family and friends. This is always a great time of the year. You have food, people, and (my favorite) football. Just about every country has some form of Thanksgiving, however, they do not celebrate it quite the same as we do here in the good old USA (keep in mind I am biased). This year I, just like a lot of other Americans, will be travelling. Please remember that extra patience is going to be required for everyone. Here is my rule, if I feel someone has wronged me or angered me in some way, I try to do two nice things for someone else. That way for every bad act someone else does, I then pay it back with two acts of kindness. Now imagine if this attitude can take off even if it is just here in Grand Forks. For every bad act we then have two good ones happening all over our awesome city. So I challenge all of you this holiday season to match my rule. Let’s all come together and start a holiday tradition of helping others. As a martial artist, I find myself following a code of leaving things better than I find them. Imagine if we all did that! How much better would our country be?

Around Town

University of North Dakota Women’s Hockey

The UND Women’s Hockey team will be playing at home this weekend against the University of Minnesota-Duluth on Friday the 23rd and Saturday the 24th at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks. The puck will drop at 7:07 PM on both days.

Red River Runners Turkey Trot 5K

2nd Annual Turkey Trot Prediction Run 5K will be run this Sunday November 25, at 4 PM, with a 3:30 PM registration time. Race start and finish will be from the Blue Moose deck on the west side in East Grand Forks. Cost for the race is: general Public: $15 (without food donation) or $10 (with food donation), RRRGF Member: $10 (without food donation) or $5 (with food donation).

Other items of note: No watches/GPS/iPods allowed! Times will be recorded, however. Results available at www.rungrandforks.com. Your prediction form will be filed before the race and compared to your actual time. The three smallest time differences are the prizewinners. Speed breaks a tie. Stay afterward for the award ceremony and to socialize at The Moose; the bar area is reserved for food and drinks!!

For more information contact: Red River Runners-Grand Forks at 701-213-7359 or go to www.rungrandforks.com