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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.
Really? I travel internationally at least once a year and this is news to me. Aside from putting my shoes through the x-ray (oh boo-hoo you have to spend 30 seconds taking off your shoes) and the exact same 30 seconds it takes at the immigration counter (ok, the lines can be annoying though) I've never run into anything that makes "flying a mode of travel that is completely unattractive" especially since its still a lot faster, quite affordable and not entirely uncomfortable (Its been my experience that its mostly US Air and AA that have drastically lowered the quantity and quality of service they offer, which is why I simply don't use them anymore, its not like they're any cheaper). Oh, but don't let that stop you from bitching and moaning about how travel by air hasn't changed significantly (except in the quality of the free snacks you get on domestic flights) in the past 15 years or so that I can recall international travel.