If it were a ‘disease’ we would see germs or viri; we aren't finding this. I would ‘guess’ (I'm not a doctor)that we are looking for some toxin that isn't well regulated in the poorer countries, like it is here.
Or, this could be the start of a Zombie Apocalypse.
Ya, I love how the article immediately rules out that it could be pesticides, of course it counldn’t be that. The article states they’re not drinking enough water, ha ! right ...
Most if not all fruits and vegetables are now grown in south and central America. Chemicals banned in the US are still being used. We are being poisoned thru the back door. Buy local, read!!! Heard on the news that Tropicana is mixing thier OJ with the tainted OJ in these areas. beware
Most of the facilities they do go to are small, individually owned doctors offices who certainly wouldn't have the record keeping wherewithall necessary to allow an accurate study of this "weird disease" over the past decades.
I've been to Honduras many times with my sister and her husband (who is from there) and I have seen the workers early in the morning walking the highways with nothing but their machete's and a sack lunch, no indication whatsoever of them carring bottles of Absopure water like everyone here does.
I've seen them hacking away at the sugar cane and yard workers cutting grass with their machete's and no evidence at all that they were sweating. Their bodies are so accustomed to the heat that they probably don't experience the overwhelming thirst that triggers the need to drink water like we would if we were doing physical activity down there.
Another thing to consider is that in Central America, no matter what city you go to, they do not have the water purification systems that we have here in the U.S. and thus all the "safe" drinking water is provided via those giant water bottles you might see in offices here. Virtually every hotel and household in the cities buy their drinking water.
The campesinos who live in the small villages out in the country do not have the luxury or money available to purchase their drinking water and so most likely they rely on the water from their faucets (if they have any and in these villages many do not). For those people, you can see their women washing their clothes in the river....
So before I start putting the blame on agricultural chemicals (which by the way most of the small sugar cane plantations, cocoa and pineapple growers do not use) I would focus on the hydration practices and quality of water these workers are drinking.......