Posted on 03/25/2010 11:16:40 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
EAGLE PASS — Fueled by growing fears of drug-resistant tuberculosis, health officials from Texas and Mexico said Wednesday they are launching new cooperative TB programs in the last two major sister cities along the border that lack them.
New federal funds will add staff in Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras and Del Rio-Ciudad Acuña, where 6 million border crossings a year make it difficult to follow patients through months of treatment or track their contacts to offer preventive care. Similar programs exist in other sister cities from El Paso to Brownsville.
Statistics released in recent days have shown a mixed record of success against tuberculosis, which remains one of the world's deadliest diseases. While the United States saw its biggest single-year decline in TB rates last year, Texas recorded exactly the same number of new cases in 2008 and 2009 — 1,501, state health officials said Wednesday. And new TB cases in Bexar County rose by 15 percent, from 81 to 93.
“In both countries, the incidence of TB is highest along the border,” said Texas Health Commissioner David Lakey. “So it's a problem for both countries. And part of the challenge is coordinating that care.”
In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Kenneth Castro, director of TB programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the nation's TB rate of 3.8 per 100,000 population in 2009 was an 11.4 percent decline from the previous year. It was the lowest rate since national surveillance began in 1953.
“However, the global reality is very much seen in the United States,” Castro said. “If you look at foreign-born persons in the United States, who accounted for 60.2 percent of all cases reported in 2009, the TB rate was 11 times higher than the TB rate in U.S.-born persons.”
(Excerpt) Read more at mysanantonio.com ...
Not that long ago TB was *conquered* in this country.Gone! But thanks to AIDS-infested pervs and “undocumented workers†from Fourth world countries it’s making a comeback.A major comeback.
OMG!!!!....Our GD government will commit funds for this but nothing to stop the border violence?
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
““In both countries, the incidence of TB is highest along the border,” said Texas Health Commissioner David Lakey. “So it’s a problem for both countries.”
Yeah!!! It’s a problem for us because of MEXICO!!!
Hello people! Mexico is not our friend. Babysitting this silly country is getting OLD
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