Posted on 11/13/2019 4:18:47 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Given that a large number of the leprosy cases in the United States involve Latinos coming up from Mexico, Dr. Marc Siegel, an internal medicine specialist with NYU Langone Health, said "it seems only a matter of time before leprosy could take hold among the homeless population" in Los Angeles County.
There are close to 600,000 homeless people in L.A. County and 75% of those people lack "even temporary shelter or adequate hygiene and medical equipment," Dr. Siegel wrote in The Hill. "All of those factors make a perfect cauldron for a contagious disease that is transmitted by nasal droplets and respiratory secretions with close repeated contact."
"Diseases are reemerging in some parts of America, including Los Angeles County, that we haven’t commonly seen since the Middle Ages," said Dr. Siegel. "One of those is typhus, a disease carried by fleas that feed on rats.... I also believe that homeless areas are at risk for the reemergence of another deadly ancient disease — leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease."
A recent study from the Keck Medical Center at the University of Southern California--Los Angeles studied 187 patients in the United States with leprosy spanning 1973 to 2018. "Most patients were Latino, originating from Mexico, and they experienced a median delay in diagnosis of more than three years," the study found, as reported by Reuters.
They also reported that leprosy cases "continue to emerge in Los Angeles County."
"Leprosy is still more prevalent in Central America and South America, with more than 20,000 new cases per year," wrote Dr. Siegel. "Given that, there is certainly the possibility of sporadic cases of leprosy continuing to be brought across our southern border undetected."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
On the other hand, SNOPES labeled this piece of news as FALSE.
SEE HERE:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/leprosy/
(EXCERPT)
The rumor stemmed from a September 2019 opinion piece penned by Dr. Marc Siegel, a doctor of internal medicine at New York University’s Langone medical center. In the piece published by The Hill, Siegel wrote that he feared immigration and a rising homeless population in Los Angeles could be the epicenter of a new leprosy epidemic.
That bit of sensationalism proved tantalizing for many media outlets, which ran with the claim despite the lack of supporting evidence. But if the idea of the dreaded New Testament disease making a resurgence in Hollywood sounds like the plot of a bad movie about End Times, that’s because the claim is false.
The only piece of evidence cited by Siegel was a paper about leprosy cases in Los Angeles. But Dr. Maria Teresa Ochoa, an associate professor of clinical dermatology at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine and a co-author of that paper, told us Siegel’s piece is inaccurate and also appears to exploit two political wedge issues: immigration and homelessness.
Ochoa called the furor over a non-existent leprosy outbreak in Los Angeles “the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen.” Although Siegel claims that most patients cited by the paper are Latinos “originating from Mexico,” and that therefore raises the specter of immigration driving a rise in cases, Ochoa said that’s simply baseless.
“We don’t talk about immigration or the homeless at all” in the paper, she told us. “I don’t have one patient [with the disease] who is homeless.” The reason most of the cases of leprosy cited in the paper were Latino patients was because of demographics: The area of Los Angeles where the clinic is located has a large Latino population.
Ochoa added that Mexico doesn’t have a major public health issue with leprosy. The countries with the biggest infection problems are India, Brazil, and Indonesia.
CLICK THE ABOVE SNOPES LINK FOR THE REST...
EEK!!
If leprosy is that easily contagious, then the attending staff will also be at risk. They have to stay there and more or less ‘babysit’.
duh
Wow!
Let’s just skip right past going back to Medieval times right to Old Testament times.
Some of the worst streets are literally right outside Adam Schiff’s local office HQ.
LA will blame business owners for something something because they didn’t do something.
Curses for Disobedience
If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the Lord your God— 59 the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. 60 He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. 61 The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. 62 You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. ~ Deuteronomy 28: 58-61
Once again, Snopes shows it cannot be trusted on any topic that is remotely political.
“Leprosy Could Hit Homeless Population”
Would anyone even notice?
Don’t armadillos carry leprosy? I’m picturing a homeless bum, reeking of urine, walking an armadillo on a leash down Rodeo Drive . . .
What Los Angeles and San Francisco need are more Armadillos to be released to run wild among their homeless populations.
“Given that a large number of the leprosy cases in the United States involve Latinos coming up from Mexico...”
However, given the richness of diversity that these populations contribute to our national life, a major outbreak of leprosy in the U.S. is such a small price to pay. It would be racist to have any other attitude.
And I am sure many of these outspoken, Trump-hating movie stars will be the first to rush in with ointments to rub on the wounds.
Put all those hot tubs to use?
Old tasteless joke there.
Alcatraz
I’m sure a little leprosy is a small price to pay for such wonderful cultural enrichment like Central American gangs waging warfare in the streets of L.A.
As Tom Wolfe predicted, we are embarked on the great rediscovery. Leprosy... soon we may have bubonic plague too.
Third World California is going to need Doctors Without Borders.
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