Mexican Border Plague?`
The Mexicans may be bringing more into the USA than cheap labor. One of their ‘gifts’ has been tuberculosis, a disease that was mostly eradicated from our country. As Cal Thomas writes:
If anyone needs another reason to oppose illegal immigration, to which the Bush Administration continues to turn a blind eye, how about the spread of a deadly communicable disease?
According to an essay in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, a form of tuberculosis that has shown itself resistant to several drugs has invaded California and is present primarily in the state’s “foreign-born” population, a politically correct euphemism for illegal aliens.
In 1993, 29 percent of TB cases in the U.S. were diagnosed among the “foreign born.” Last year, 2005, that figure had risen to 53 percent. The disease isn’t coming by wire transfer, but by human carriers coming across our borders.
Probably due to the relatively unsanitory conditions in which they lived, the Mexican immigrants are more suceptible to a whole range of diseases.
The large population movement, limited public health infrastructure, and poor environmental conditions contribute to increased incidence of certain infectious diseases. Analysis of data from the U.S. National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System for 1990 through 1998 showed increased risks for certain foodborne, waterborne, and vaccine-preventable diseases in U.S. counties within 100 kilometers of the border, compared with nonborder states. These data show a two- to fourfold greater incidence of hepatitis A, measles, rubella, shigellosis, and rabies and an eightfold greater incidence of brucellosis in border counties than in nonborder states. Studies have identified the importance of cross-border movement in the transmission of various diseases, including hepatitis, tuberculosis, shigellosis, syphilis, Mycobacterium bovis infection, and brucellosis
Well as if that is not enough ‘joy’ from our Mexican neighbors, there is now a new yet to be defined malady in the Mexican border states given the name Morgellons disease.
The symptoms of .Morgellons disease include skin lesions that do not heal, a crawling sensation on the surface of the skin, fatigue, cognitive difficulties and, perhaps the most disturbing, fibers popping out of the skin. These structures can be described as fiber-like or filamentous, and are the most striking feature of this disease. In addition, patients report the presence of seed-like granules and black speck-like material associated with their skin.
Although skin symptoms are of particular interest to this foundation and are extremely troubling to patients, they are also a vital clue that something is terribly wrong with the body. More significant than skin symptoms, in terms of the diminished quality of life of the individual with this illness, are symptoms unrelated to skin, to include Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Fibromyalgia (ME), joint pain, and significant problems with concentration and memory.
So far, the medical profession dealing primarily with the symptoms doesn’t seem to have a clue as to the root cause of this disease. My personal view is that the symptoms are an outcome or reaction to some malfunction of primary human body functions like the immune system and/or the DNA instructions for cellular systems rejuvenation. What could be causing the malfunction is the real question that needs to be answered.
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If you are interested in Morgellons Disease or experience Morgellons symptoms, I would like to invite you to participate in the Morgellons Disease Information Community and Message Board at morgellonsite.com
Should we quarantine all Americans who are overseas, or just sieze and disenfect their property?
We can all become latex glove Amish.
“Should we quarantine all Americans who are overseas, or just sieze and disenfect their property?”
I think we are talking about border hoppers here, not overseas people. More leftie change-the-subject distraction, I guess.
nobrainer: I agree with your last paragraph. As far as disease incidence is concerned, there is a time lapse in such things, and by the time the epidemic(if it happens) is upon us, the damage will be much greater than if we attend to it now. For me, it’s just another reason for us to lock down the border, dry up the jobs and welfare, and deport the ones who ignore our laws.
As I said, this was “my first reaction.”
I like to look for what the numbers don’t say. From my cursory examination, they don’t say a damn thing about how this has affected the health of American born… uh-er.. Americans. Are cases among American born Americans up, down, unchanged? If they’re unchanged or down, then the influx of disease carrying “foreign born” persons wouldn’t seem to matter much, would it? But I don’t know, because Thomas doesn’t mention it.
Again, there’s no mention in Thomas’s article about just how many of those cases were of the drug-resistant variety. 1%? 5%? 50%? 99%?
I basically find it very hard to draw any significant conclusions from Thomas’s article (other than that foreign born persons in America have a higher risk of carrying certain diseases.)
And if these things are so contagious and so prevalent, not only should we not allow non-medically approved immigration, we shouldn’t let anyone of any stripe cross the border in any direction.
Ok Docdave, why are you trying to convince us that illegal immigration is bad? That’s obviuos, there are many negative consequesces. No one is seriously proposing we ignore the illegal problem, so what is your point exactly?
Woah, so you are completley anti-immigration? Close the border completely, to legals and illegals? That’s a bit extreme and “anti-immigrant”, hm?
The argument has to be won, and it isn’t yet. I must say that Morgellon’s disease may be a hoax, but we just need to keep at it until the govt acts, and acts decisively.
Certainly not my topic of expertise, but my first reaction is that if the vast, overwhelming majority of cases are carried by the “foreign born” — or if increases are occurring primarily in the “foreign born” community, then why should I be so worried?
I came to comment on the same thing, Diane. Just a quick one liner, since the parallels are becoming so obvious. But instead, I’ll point out how the Indians made war with the Europeans once it became obvious that their nations were suffering from the invasion. If we were to learn from the Native American example, we’d probably still be speaking English 400 years from now.
WOOF,
Considering the source, high praise indeed!
“And he said its presence does not warrant closing U.S. borders.”
Not as a single factor, but added to all the rest, another compelling reason. The cost is the possibility of serious infection of our population. What is the claimed benefit, if any?
I wonder how long it will take before some partisan southpaw starts howling that “Get your shots before you hire the Hispanic pool cleaning service” is racist and unfair? Especially since we know that only whites are racist.
From one of the linked articles:
Further on:
Focusing on a single infectious disease is disingenuous. The point here is these people are living in situations with inadequate sanitation, non-exsistant medical care, and contaminated food and water. There is no medical screening, so whatever contagions they are carrying go unmonitored. They often live in overcrowded conditions once in this country. When they do begin to show signs of an illness and go to a clinic or emergency room, they do not honestly answer the pertinent questions that would allow their illness to be properly tracked to source. Their children are vacinated through school programs, though this is after they have been exposed during the time they are in the border crossing process. Long story short, legal immigrants are medically screened, illegals are not, close the border to illegals and begin screening those illegals we take into custody. Then backtrack and screen people they have been in close contact with. Exactly why is this a bad idea?
Hmmmm….seem to remember hearing something about the diseases we gave to Native Americans when ‘we’ first came over.
You are howling Bat.
Yeah, we all know TB isn’t contagious…
You’re right, nobrainer, since it’s only a problem in the “foreign born” population, you have nothing to worry about… until you think who makes up the bulk of the kitchen staffs at your favorite restaraunts.