Little discussed fact; It has become "insensitive" to bring up some issues we have come to overlook when it comes to illegal immigration. I am not saying that immigrants carry diseases, but it is true that illegal immigrants do not face the screening that is required of legal immigration. It may not be the same as to olden days of "Ellis Island" on the East Coast or "Angel Island" on the West coast, but there was an important purpose in screening incoming immigrants; in selecting healthy immigrants, curing those that we could and repatriating those that carried incurable diseases which put the entire population at risk.
That undocumented Nanny for the kids? Is it worth it? Those guys out in the fields, harvesting food - sure have been a lot of unexplained food scares in the last few years, I wonder why. The information listed below only cites collected data up to 1999 or so. Recent data shows it is much worse now.
Health care matters.
During the 19th century, TB claimed more lives in the United States than any other disease. Improvements in nutrition, housing, sanitation, and medical care in the first half of the 20th century dramatically reduced the number of cases and deaths. TB's decline hastened in the 1940s and 1950s with the introduction of the first effective antibiotic therapies for TB. By 1985, the number of cases had fallen to 22,201 in the United States.
In 1985, however, the decline ended and the number of active TB cases in the United States began to rise again. Several forces, often interrelated, were behind TB's resurgence:
- The HIV/AIDS epidemic. People with HIV are particularly vulnerable to reactivation of latent TB infections, as well as to disease caused by new TB infections. TB transmission occurs most frequently in crowded environments such as hospitals, prisons, and shelters where HIV-infected individuals make up a growing proportion of the population.
- Increased numbers of immigrants from countries with many cases of TB, many of whom live in crowded housing. Because of language and economic difficulties, many immigrants have limited access to health care and may not receive treatment. TB cases among immigrants increased from 4,925 in 1986 to 7,640 in 1998, accounting for 42 percent of the national total.
- Increased poverty, injection drug use, and homelessness. TB transmission is rampant in crowded shelters and prisons where people weakened by poor nutrition, drug addiction, and alcoholism are exposed to M. tuberculosis. People in poor health, especially those infected with HIV, also are prone to reactivation of latent TB infections.
- Poor compliance with treatment regimens, especially among disadvantaged groups. Some of these people may remain contagious while others develop and pass on resistant strains of M. tuberculosis that are difficult to treat.
- Increased numbers of residents in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes. Immune function declines with age, and as patients live longer, many suffer recurrences of latent infections often acquired in early adulthood. Other elderly people, especially those with weak immune systems, become newly infected with TB.
