Slashdot Mirror
Developing World's Parasites, Diseases Enter US
reporter alerts us to a story up at the Wall Street Journal on the increasing prevalance in the US of formerly rare, 3rd-world diseases such as toxocariasis, chagas, and cysticercosis. Health-care legislation pending in the House calls for a full report to Congress about the threat from this cluster of diseases, termed "neglected infections of poverty." "Parasitic infections and other diseases usually associated with the developing world are cropping up with alarming frequency among US poor, especially in states along the US-Mexico border, the rural South, and in Appalachia, according to researchers. Government and private researchers are just beginning to assess the toll of the infections, which are a significant cause of heart disease, seizures and congenital birth defects among black and Hispanic populations. ... 'These are diseases that we know are ten-fold more important than swine flu,' said [one] leading researcher in this field. 'They're on no one's radar.' ... These diseases share a common thread. 'People who live in the suburbs are at very low risk,' Dr. Hotez said. But for the 37 million people in the US who live below the poverty line, he said, 'There is real suffering.'" Update: 08/23 16:55 GMT by KD : The submitter pointed out that the usual "Related" link to the original submission was missing on this story. We are testing a new version of the story editor and this was probably caused by a bug; reported. Here's the original.
Uncontrolled immigration is the obvious problem. Encouraging illegals with free government services adds to it. Keep the disease ridden out and the problem goes away.
an ill wind that blows no good
You are shadowboxing, none of those things say anything about squalor or poverty (especially if you want it to be depression era poverty, and not food-stamps poverty).
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Consider this, unknown diseases spreading in big cities in the U.S. , and people refuse to seek treatment because they have no insurance and cannot afford any health care at all.
Who said U.S. has the best health-care system? Our system is very similar to that of ..................... China's.
New Economic Perspectives
Which is why we use to SCREEN everyone entering the USA. To keep out sick and people with disease. Thanks to the crybaby libtards, those days are over.
LOL. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, right?
Right, you gigantic asshole.
Sorry, you're a victim of a myth. On a per capita basis, the US accepts roughly the same number of immigrants (and/or refugees) as many western European countries, but less than other countries. By contrast, Canada accept far more. Hell, I think Greece has higher immigration numbers.
And your point is...?
And if you factor in the anti-immigrant rhetoric and attitudes prevalent across so much of the US (and the lack of such things as health care and basic social safety nets, I'd suggest that the US is hardly a welcoming place.
There is no "anti-immigration rhetoric." YOU ARE FULL OF SHIT. I've literally never, ONCE, heard a single person in the US complain about legal immigration. That includes everybody I've known in real life, any TV or radio I've listened to-- that sentiment simply DOES NOT EXIST.
There is anti-illegal immigration rhetoric. You're a retard if you don't realize that that's something completely different.
The reason, for example, why the US has low immigration numbers
It does? You haven't proven that yet, buddy... you can't work off of points you haven't yet addressed!
and continues to spend less per capita on charitable foreign aid than most industrialised countries, is that the US simply doesn't like and has never liked foreigners, least of all when they try to immigrate.
Look, I don't know what redneck hell-hole you got your impression of the US from, but: FUCK YOU.
As for the article, the immigration process does require a complete health check, so the issues related to the spread of infectious diseases are addressed. The problem, however, is that not everyone who comes here is eligible to become part of that process, and there is no free public health care for them or anyone else. Consider tuberculosis, for example. Mandatory screening when applying for a green card, but the rates of infection in the US go up by 20K cases per year.
Gee, I wonder why that is? Could it be because of *illegal* immigration? Immigrants who don't go through that complete health check you just mentioned because they're under the government's radar? HMM! WHAT A PUZZLER!!
Jesus Christ you're an asshole. Praytell, what country do you come from, that's so much better than the US when it comes to immigration? The aforementioned Greece?
Comment of the year