Posted on 03/15/2007 10:35:15 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
Parasite is a growing concern for healthcare professionals One in 3,800 donors in the L.A. area tested positive for Chagas, a deadly disease that is mainly found in Latin America. By Rong-Gong Lin II, Times Staff Writer March 15, 2007 - Information on Chagas disease A little-known but potentially deadly parasite from Latin America has become one of the latest threats to the blood and organ supplies in the United States, especially in Los Angeles, where many donors have traveled to affected countries, health officials say....... according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The parasite, which is generally passed to humans from a blood-sucking insect that looks like a striped cockroach, can feed over years on tissues of the heart and gastrointestinal tract. After decades, tissues can be eroded so much that the organs fail. Insect transmission of the parasite in the United States is rare, but public health and blood bank officials have been concerned about its increasing prevalence in the blood supply. In 1996, using an experimental test, the American Red Cross found that one in 9,850 blood donors in the L.A. area tested positive for the parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi. Two years later, it was one in every 5,400. By 2006, a more refined test detected the parasite in one in 3,800 donors. About 10% to 30% of infected people develop symptoms of chronic disease, experts say..... If caught early, strong anti-protozoal drugs such as nifurtimox can bring the parasite to undetectable levels or, in some cases, eliminate it entirely. If the parasite is given the chance to multiply over years or decades, however, those infected may have to be treated with heart-regulating drugs or get a pacemaker or heart transplant.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
That would be the SECOND type of parasite that crosses into the US from Mexico.
Oh joy.
Eating spinach will kill these germs (the e.coli in spinach, I mean)
/s
Illegals are only spreading the diseases Americans don't spread.
>>>Parasite is a growing concern for healthcare profesionals
This is news? Lawyers have always been a concern for healthcare professionals.
/bad joke
::ducks!::
Exactly....
Possibly related:
http://freerepublic.info/focus/keyword?k=taintedblood
Previous articles on tainted blood
drip
Ping
Thank you GWB.
And they say the war on terror is the most important issue. I live in the central valley of California where illegals have taken over. The probability that I will be murdered, etc. by an illegal alien or catch some god-forsaken third world disease that kills me just keeps growing.
Noone seems to care.
Questions for you: When you go to bed at night, do you lock your house? Do you lock your car when you go shopping? Does the company you work for lock their doors at night? There are many questions like this but.......How come we don't lock our border down?
HEY BUSH IS THIS WHAT WE GET???? BUSH AND THE RINOS COULD CARE LESS ABOUT AMERICANS ONLY THEIR PERSONAL POWER AND FINANCIAL INTERESTS.
Why are we fighting in Iraq when we are leaving our borders wide open over here? I am completely disgusted with the whold RINO party.
HEY BUSH IS THIS WHAT WE GET???? BUSH AND THE RINOS COULD CARE LESS ABOUT AMERICANS ONLY THEIR PERSONAL POWER AND FINANCIAL INTERESTS.
Why are we fighting in Iraq when we are leaving our borders wide open over here? I am completely disgusted with the whole RINO party.
I know...It's more important to be P.C. about everything including the fact they are spreading new diseases...
I went to the doctor not long ago because I had a rash on my chest, back, armpits, etc and it was driving me nuts. Doctor looked at me and said I have no clue what it is and started writing a scrip for antibiotics. I said "What do you mean you don't know what it is?"
Her answer was that they see so many new things that are coming from south of the border that there is no way they can keep up with them all or know what they are.
She said, take this and it will go away.
It did, but I am very careful where I go and who touches my food, etc. anymore.
"Illegals are only spreading the diseases Americans don't spread."
drpix, You should read article more carefully. It says:
"especially in Los Angeles, where many donors have traveled to affected countries, health officials say....... "
It's all travellers' fault.
LOL!
Too funny. Bring up tourists to show it isn't only illegals that give the gift that keeps on giving.
Unfortunatly, tourists are much less likely to be carriers given the simple fact that they are only in Mexico, etc., for short periods of time.
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