Free Republic

Newly arrived refugees have doubled the incidence of tuberculosis in Texas, Watchdog.org has learned. The Department of State Health Services said 1,238 refugees, asylum-seekers, Cuban parolees, human-trafficking victims and holders of special immigrant visas tested positive for TB. Texas typically reports 1,200 to 1,300 active TB cases annually, DSHS said. DSHS spokesman Chris Van Deusen said the positive screenings by refugees could indicate latent TB infections. “They have been exposed to TB and have the bacteria dormant in their body. It does not indicate that they are sick with tuberculosis and capable of spreading it,” Van Deusen said. But the...

One of every five refugees resettled in Minnesota by the federal government tested positive for latent tuberculosis in 2014, ... More than 70,000 refugees have been resettled in the United States annually for the past three decades by the federal government. It’s not just tuberculosis being brought in by these resettled refugees. Measles, whooping cough, diptheria, and other diseases that were on their way to eradication are also coming in across the borders of the United States. A recent outbreak of measles in Memphis, Tennessee, a center for refugee resettlement, began at a local mosque, ... The alarming public health...