Posted on 05/04/2006 11:57:32 AM PDT by Kieri
(snip)
From Mexico's perspective, the border encompasses some of the country's most economically prosperous states. In contrast, the U.S. border region is among the poorest areas in the United States, with >30% of families living at or below the poverty level[8]. Along the Texas border, an estimated 350,000 or more people live in 1,450 unincorporated areas known as colonias, which lack adequate sanitation infrastructure[8].
The large population movement, limited public health infrastructure, and poor environmental conditions contribute to increased incidence of certain infectious diseases[8-11] 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[11]. Studies have identified the importance of cross-border movement in the transmission of various diseases, including hepatitis A[12,13], tuberculosis[14-18], shigellosis[19], syphilis[20], Mycobacterium bovis infection[21], and brucellosis[22,23].
(Excerpt) Read more at medscape.com ...
What kinds of risks are AMERICANS in border states experiencing because of our pathetic border controls?
What shots do people have to have before coming into the US? What shots do Americans need when traveling abroad?
None... one station did mention an outbreak of Mumps in teh mid-west, and alluded to the possibility they cold have been brought by illegals.... but that's it.
Barely. I saw an article a couple of days ago where some town in Massachusetts had made it a condition of granting a restaurant license that the businesses agree not to hire illegal immigrants. Apparently public health officials are seeing a sharp uptick in drug resistant tuburculosis and didn't think it was appropriate for people with this infectious disease to be handling food.
It makes me think twice before I eat in a restaurant with Hispanic workers!
At least Massachusetts does something right on occasion.
I wish the media (coughFOXNEWScough) would latch onto this story. The US had all but eradicated TB and now it's coming back. Now it makes me wonder...how many other stories aren't being fully reported because they'd be blasted as racist?
I've got too many questions and no answers.
I'm sure the CDC or another Fed website has the information. The CDC does, however, have a page for info specific to Mexico. Aside from the usual "don't drink the water!" warnings on Montezuma's Revenge, they do mention both Hepatitis A and B as well as malaria.
This statement is definately an understatement. The colonias I visited in South Texas a few years ago was simply a large collection of old mover's Van-Pac household goods storage boxes set in the middle of a cotton field. The boxes had windows cut in the sides for ventilation. There was only dirt streets, no running water, and no sewerage facilities. I cannot speak to the obvious human health risks that exist in association with colonias, but I could say much about the risks to American agriculture that exist from open southern borders.
Muleteam1
And what about people coming from Africa? India? Pakistan? Any warnings about them?
Added keyword - diseases.
Do an FR search on the keyword, diseases. There are a few articles about TB and other 3-world diseases and other illegals-related health concerns/heath facility overload.
We don't share a 2,000 mile open border with those countries. I'm not saying their health isn't an issue.
Illegal Immigrants Are Spreading Dangerous Diseases Across This Nation
By Dave Gibson (05/12/2005)
It is often said that the flood of illegal immigrants into this country is reaching 'epidemic proportions.' While that statement is true--it is just as true that the illegal immigrants pouring over the U.S.-Mexican border are endangering this country with actual epidemics. Tuberculosis, hepatitis, dengue fever, chagas, and even leprosy are being imported into the U.S. inside the bodies of illegal aliens...And you thought they only carried heroin-filled baloons inside their bodies!
A 'hot-zone' of disease can be found in this nations border states. Illegal immigrants are setting up so-called "colonias" just inside the states of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The shanty towns are comprised mostly of cardboard shacks and huts made with cast-off building materials. They have no sanitation, and are surrounded by mounds of garbage. The estimated 185,000 illegals share their makeshift towns with armies of rats. Of course, diseases only common to Central and South America run rampant in these places.
One of the imports to this country is chagas disease. It is caused by a parasite known as trypanosome. It is a blood-borne disease and is spread by triatomine insects. The parasite burrows into human tissue (usually in the face), where it then begins to multiply. In addition to being spread by insects, it can also be contracted through blood transfusions.
After cases of chagas were reportedly discovered to have been spread by transfusions in Canada, that nation began testing all blood donations for the disease.
For 40 years, the number of recorded cases of leprosy within the United States totaled 900. Today, we know of more than 7,000 current cases of leprosy in the U.S.
Dr. John Levis of New York's Bellevue Hospital's Hansen Disease Clinic said of America's documented cases of leprosy: 'There are probably many, many more and they are spreading."
Most of those in the U.S. who are suffering from leprosy are from Mexico, India, Brazil, and the Caribbean. However, there are a few documented cases in which the person became infected with leprosy inside the U.S. The majority of the cases have been discovered in this nation's northeastern region.
Once thought to be nearly eradicated in this country, TB is now making a strong comeback. In a recent interview with Mother Jones Magazine, Dr. Reichman of The New Jersey TB Clinic recently said: In the 1990's, cases among foreign born Americans rose from 29 percent to 41.6 percent. Antibiotic resistant strains from Mexico have migrated to Texas. Since three years ago, 16,000 new cases of TB were discovered in the United States. Half were foreign born. Strains of TB once only found in Mexico have migrated to the border states of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California. It will move north as illegal aliens work in restaurants as cooks, dishwashers, and food handlers. We sit on the edge of a potential catastrophe."
In 2001, New York's Tuberculosis Control Program discovered that 81 percent of that city's new cases of TB were attributed to immigrants
Cases of TB are now being found in many areas of the country, where there are high concentrations of illegal immigrants. In March of 2002, The Washington Post reported that Virginia's Prince William County experienced a 188 percent increase of TB infections over the previous year. Yes, the streets of Prince William County are over-run with illegal aliens seeking day-laborer jobs.
Last year, the rate of TB in the northern part of Virginia rose 17 percent. The Va. Department of Health blamed the rise on that region's recent flood of illegal immigrants. Many strains of TB are being found in certain neighborhoods, which are dominated by illegal Latin American immigrants.
The threats posed to our country by illegal immigration are many. However, our political leaders will undoubtedly continue to ignore them. Our own president is willing to place all Americans at risk, in exchange for securing the Latino vote for the Republican Party.
If left unchecked, illegal immigration will destroy this nation one way or another.
I think you must have seen an article similar to this:
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=137822
This is where the mumps outbreak came from!
My children's pediatrician is now requiring the HEP A vaccine. We live in Texas and homeschool and haven't needed this vaccine yet. He informed me that it was now being given as a required vaccine due to the influx of Hep A from the illegals. Nice isn't it?
Has the sound of weapons of mass destruction.
Check out this link
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1626819/posts
What few links I have found are here, scroll back to find them-- "Thunder on the Border," click the picture:
A very un-charming, graphic illustration? 
My apologies.
There are a lot of old horrors of diseases kurking out in the world, that we have largely forgotten, but TB, cholera, scarlet and yellow fever, etc., are no laughing matter if you are unlucky enough to get them.
A bit they did on illegals on Fox showing the trash they left behind showed alot of medicine packets. Looked like antibiotics to me. There are innumerable reasons not to have people just wantonly crossing the border. We need a modern version of Ellis island complete with quarantines.
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