TB CASES NOT ALL CRACK USERS

While cocaine users are among the victims of a tuberculosis outbreak
in the Alberni Valley, that's not true for everyone infected with the
deadly bacterial disease.

Dr. Fred Rockwell, Central Island chief medical officer for the
Vancouver Island Health Region, said most of those infected are not drug users.

"It's true to say some are - the minority are," Rockwell said.

Public health nurses are working to trace the contacts of those
infected with the disease, including a group of crack cocaine users.

But Rockwell said drug users aren't the only people infected with the disease.

Port Alberni has had 16 cases - three times the normal annual level
for the entire Central Island in the last eight months.

At least one of three deaths among those infected can be attributed to TB.