The return of tuberculosis to the United States - Thomas Lifson

by Thomas Lifson

Data from the Vermont Department of Health show that more than one-third of refugees resettled in Vermont test positive for tuberculosis.

Another aspect of President Obama’s “fundamental transformation” appears to be the return of tuberculosis to the United States, adding one more dimension of third world status to our new way of life. A highly communicable and fatal disease, TB is spread by coughing, making its spread in crowded environments – theatres, subways, schools, you name it --  particularly likely.

One of the epic battles in the history of public health in the United States was the (until now) successful effort to contain it. I vividly remember returning to the United States from Tokyo in 1968 on a flight that had many Filipinos connecting from Manila. They were required at that time to bring dated chest x-rays certifying that they did not carry TB, and the line of them at the health screening desk at JFK airport was long and slow.

Those days are gone, and our federal government is actively bringing TB Carriers into the United States and dispersing them among our population. Consider just two stories today.  Michael Parker Leahy at Brietbart:

Two workers at Mercy Hospital and Abbot Northwestern Hospital, both located in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area and owned by Allina Health, have been diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB).

“I can confirm that one hospital worker at Mercy Hospital and one hospital worker at Abbott Northwestern Hospital were diagnosed with active TB,” Allina Health Vice President of Marketing and Communications David Kanihan tells Breitbart News. (snip)

The open ended nature of the Allina Health statement released on Friday — “In late May, Allina Health began notifying 141 people who had been patients at either Abbott Northwestern Hospital or Mercy Hospital earlier this year that they may have been exposed to tuberculosis (TB). At each location, we learned that a worker who helped deliver care had TB.” (emphasis added) — raises more questions than it answers.

It is not clear when in 2016 the active TB cases in these two Allina Health workers were diagnosed, or when Allina Health first began communicating with the Minnesota Department of Health about these cases.
Neither Allina Health nor the Minnesota Department of Health clarified that timeline when asked by Breitbart News.
The Minnesota Department of Health reported that in 2014, 73 percent of the 147 active cases of TB in Minnesota were foreign born.

And via Bruce Parker of Vermont Watchdog:

Data from the Vermont Department of Health show that more than one-third of refugees resettled in Vermont test positive for tuberculosis.
Since 2013, about 900 refugees admitted to the Green Mountain State have been tested for tuberculosis, a potentially fatal infectious disease affecting the lungs. Of that number, 318 refugees, or 35.4 percent, tested positive.
Watchdog.org obtained the health data on Wednesday following reporting by Stateline that the disease may be making a comeback in the United States.
Refugees brought to the United States undergo TB tests as part of comprehensive health screenings. State health departments track the data to monitor cases and protect against public health crises.
According to IGRA (Interferon-Gamma Release Assays) blood test results from 2013 to the present, the highest percentage of incoming refugees to Vermont infected with TB occurred in 2013. That year, 108 refugees out of 248 tested, or 43.6 percent, showed positive for TB.

It is so unfair that the United States has been exempt from plagues like TB! That is a situation that President Obama and his progressive allies are remedying. Open borders work just great!

Thomas Lifson

Source: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/06/the_return_of_tuberculosis_to_the_united_states.html

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.