NEARLY 2,500 MIGRANTS IN TIJUANA SICK
WITH COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
BY R. CORT KIRKWOOD
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
If wrecking American sovereignty, lowering wages, and increasing the
public welfare load aren’t reasons enough to oppose the influx of
migrant invaders sitting in Tijuana, here is another: At least 30
percent of them are sick with communicable diseases they might spread to
Americans in schools, hospitals, welfare and employment offices, and
other public places.
And by “sick,” officials in Mexico don’t mean the common cold. They mean serious disease.
Some of the migrants are turning around and heading home after months of traveling through Mexico, as
The New American reported
today. But with a third of the 6,000 or so in Tijuana coughing and
breaking out in blisters, now is not the time for the Trump
administration to weaken.
AIDS, TB, and ChickenpoxThat’s because the diseases many of the migrants carry are deadly — or can be.
“Out of 6,000 migrants currently residing in the city, over a third
of them (2,267) are being treated for health-related issues,”
Fox News reported.
So far, officials have confirmed three cases of tuberculosis, four
cases of AIDS, and four separate cases of chickenpox, the network
reported.
Even worse, they’ve also brought in bugs. Real bugs. At least 101,
Fox reported, carry lice and “skin infections.”
That means the migrants might well start a typhus epidemic or bring in chagas disease.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the body louse is the vector for the typhus bacterium,
Rickettsia prowazekii.
“Epidemic typhus is spread to people through contact with infected
body lice,” CDC says. It noted the disease is uncommon these days,
although “epidemic typhus was responsible for millions of deaths in
previous centuries.” But cases continue to occur, in areas where extreme
overcrowding is common and body lice can travel from one person to
another.”
The Benito Juarez Sports Complex, where the migrants are housed, is
one such overcrowded area: 6,000 are packed into an area meant for
1,000.
Chagas is another of the many benefits the migrants might bring. And
unlike louse-borne typhus, chagas is not rare. It’s epidemic in Latin
America.
Blood-scuking triatomine bugs cause the disease:
These blood-sucking bugs get infected by
biting an infected animal or person. Once infected, the bugs pass T.
cruzi parasites in their feces. The bugs are found in houses made from
materials such as mud, adobe, straw, and palm thatch. During the day,
the bugs hide in crevices in the walls and roofs. During the night, when
the inhabitants are sleeping, the bugs emerge. Because they tend to
feed on people’s faces,
triatomine bugs are also known as “kissing bugs.”
Some eight million people in Mexico, Central America, and South America have it, and most don’t know it.
Officials also worry about a hepatitis outbreak because of the filth
in the Benito Juarez Sports Complex. “The location also has only 35
portable bathrooms,”
Fox reported. “A sign reading ‘No Spitting’ was put up, as coughing and spitting by migrants are rampant in the shelter.”
Multi-Drug Resistant TBParticularly worrisome is
how many of the migrants carry a particularly virulent form of TB that
is resistant to multiple antibiotics. Frightening data appeared in a
paper published last year by the National Center for Biotechnology
Information.
It reported
that 37,684 immigrants with TB entered the United States between 2005
and 2009. The most, 24.1 percent, or 9,098, came from Mexico. Another
1,154, or 3.1 percent, came from Guatemala, while 853, or 2.3 percent,
came from Honduras, where the migrant invasion began.
But that’s TB generally. Of more concern are the multi-drug resistant
cases that came in: 482. Again, Mexico accounted for most of those: 66
or 13.7 percent. Fourteen Guatemalans had the disease, accounting for
about three percent. None, apparently, came from Honduras.
MDR TB is a pressing concern,
CDC reports, because “it is resistant to ... the two most potent TB drugs ... used to treat all persons with TB.”
Another 2,000 migrants are headed
for Tijuana. They will pack the sports complex even tighter. If the
33-percent figure for sick migrants in Tijuana now holds true for those
on the way, the town will be faced with another 660 very sick people.
Question: Is the United States expected to permit the entry of nearly
3,000 sick people, and if so, who will pay to treat their myriad
diseases?