Commentary: Illegal Immigration’s Impact on Public Health

Illegal Immigrants

Successful public health campaigns and medical advances have enabled the United States to conquer a range of disfiguring and damaging diseases. Polio, which paralyzed thousands of Americans annually, was wiped out by widespread vaccinations. In 1999 the nation’s last hospital for lepers closed its doors in Louisiana. A global campaign eradicated smallpox, while lethal tuberculosis, the “consumption” that stalked characters in decades of literature, seemed beaten by antibiotics. Measles outbreaks still occur from time to time, but they are small, local, and easily contained.

Recently, however, some of these forgotten but still formidable infectious diseases have begun to reappear in the U.S. For two years running, polio has been detected in some New York water samples, and this fall, leprosy re-emerged in Florida, where cases of malaria have also been recorded.

Read the full story

Commentary: Biden’s Open Borders Are Bringing Diseases to Your Neighborhood

by Betsy McCaughey   Ready for another pandemic? New York City’s health commissioner announced last week that the influx of migrants from the southern border — more than 50,000 to New York City alone in the past year — is delivering contagious diseases, including tuberculosis and polio, to our neighborhoods. The same disease threats are also endangering other migrant destinations, including California, Texas and Florida. In a letter to physicians and health care administrators citywide, Commissioner Ashwan Vasan explained that “many people who recently arrived in NYC have lived in or traveled through countries with high rates of TB.” TB, short for tuberculosis, is a bacterial infection. It is treatable with antibiotics, but it generally takes six to nine months of medication to recover. Not a walk in the park. TB spreads through the air, like flu or a cold. Stand next to someone with TB for a long subway ride or sit next to them every day at school and you can catch it. New York City’s TB rate, at 6.1 cases per 100,000, is more than double the national rate. Close to 9 out of 10 (88 percent) of these TB cases are people born outside the United…

Read the full story

CDC Searches for Answers on Why Mysterious Polio-Like Disease is Flaring Up in US Children

by Evie Fordham   The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is searching for answers on 127 suspected and confirmed cases of a polio-like disease leaving children across the U.S. paralyzed. Sixty-two cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) have been confirmed in 22 states out of 127 reports of AFM. Those numbers put 2018 on track to have a record number of AFM cases, Dr. Nancy Messonnier of the CDC told NBC News. “We have not been able to find the cause of the majority of AFM cases …” Messonnier said according to NBC News. “AFM is a rare condition. It’s also a serious condition. So we want to encourage parents to seek medical care right away if you or your child develop symptoms of AFM such as sudden weakness or paralysis of the arms and legs.” Patients with AFM often need help from a ventilator to breathe, and they can be disabled for years AFM can also strike people older than 18, according to NBC News. Confirmed AFM cases peaked at 149 in 2016 after the illness first grabbed headlines with 120 confirmed cases in 2014, according to CDC data. The illness appears to spike every other year. The…

Read the full story

Open Borders Bring a Higher Risk of Disease

chest x-ray

by Walter Williams   The Immigration and Nationality Act mandates that all immigrants and refugees undergo a medical screening examination to determine whether they have an inadmissible health condition. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has technical instructions for medical examination of prospective immigrants in their home countries before they are permitted to enter the U.S. They are screened for communicable and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis, polio, measles, mumps, and HIV. They are also tested for syphilis, gonorrhea, and other sexually transmitted diseases. The CDC also has medical screening guidelines for refugees. These screenings are usually performed 30 to 90 days after refugees arrive in the United States. But what about people who enter our country illegally? The CDC specifically cites the possibility of the cross-border movement of HIV, measles, pertussis, rubella, rabies, hepatitis A, influenza, tuberculosis, shigellosis, and syphilis. Chris Cabrera, a Border Patrol agent in South Texas, warned: “What’s coming over into the U.S. could harm everyone. We are starting to see scabies, chickenpox, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections, and different viruses.” Some of the youngsters illegally entering our country are known to be carrying lice and suffering from various illnesses. Because there have been…

Read the full story