Parasites in Poverty Areas of US and Brought to US Shores

[cynical]

Hi Jonsi,

I don't think this was meant to be directly about Morgellons. Parasites in general are increasing in several states and even the universities think it is directly tied to increased immigrants.

Introduction to Nematodes

I feel the more they acknowledge this the more people that do have a potential parasite will be taken seriously.

No one is saying that immigrants themselves knowingly do this as many parasites can be in the body for years with no one showing signs. One in particular that worries me is Chagas disease.

So no paranoia here just being aware of the growing emergence of such infections that were not seen here before.

[tcmgpt13]

This post quoted below was removed from an M petition thread started by Doc. Personally I feel it is more important to remove possible sources of contracting the many illnesses which had been eradicated or never even encountered before the huge flood of people illegally entering into the US. Petitions asking that investigations be carried out in this area are paramount to the survival of the country, including those of us who have Morgellons. Illegal aliens usually originate from places where there are very poor living conditions, often living on mud floors with no sanitation available to them. Many have some pretty scary diseases, like chagas, leprosy, antibiotic resistant tuberculosis as well as other parasitic diseases, one of the worst being cysticercosis. They are never required, as are legal immigrants, to pass a medical exam before entering the country. This is not a good way to keep the citizens of a country healthy nor does it show any concern for the citizens of the US. These same illegal aliens are spreading disease in restaurants, in meat packing plants and in homes where they are employed as domestics.

"IMMIGRANTS

Parasitic infection is more associated with the tropics and the subtropical areas of the world because of climate and unsanitary conditions. Parasites are much more prevalent in immigrants from areas like the South Pacific, Mexico, South America, Asia, and Haiti. Recent immigrants to this country, who are often unskilled and unable to speak English but willing to work for minimum wages or less, very often seek jobs in kitchens where today there are no obstacles to their employment. I have observed that the majority of restaurant workers no longer wear hair nets or gloves when handling food, and often the same person who serves your food takes your dirty money. With this lack of basic sanitation in the restaurants of America, the exposure rate to infectious diseases is mushrooming."

Atlantis Rising Magazine, TROPICAL DISEASES By Ann Louise Gittleman

An orthodox Jewish community suddenly developed pork tape worms and they never eat pork! This happened because illegal aliens, employed to cook food in their homes, handled their food. I will post more about this later as it is a growing world wide problem and it is quite a serious issue. Here's what one site says about the pork tape worm (cysticercosis). There's a video on the page linked here (not sure I have the stomach to watch it). Pork tape worms, about as scary as it gets as they can go into the brain. It is being brought in to this country by illegal aliens. This is fact, not paranoia:

"Pork Tapeworms...

"We've got a lot more of cases of this in the United States now," said Raymond Kuhn, professor of biology and an expert on parasites at WakeForest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. "Upwards of 20 percent of neurology offices in California have seen it."

The pork tapeworm has plagued people for thousands of years. The parasite, known as cysticercosis, lives in pork tissue, and is likely the reason why Jewish and Muslim dietary laws ban pork.

Kuhn said whether you get a tapeworm in the intestine, or a worm burrowing into your brain can depend on how you consumed the parasite."



IT'S NOT A TUMOR, IT'S A BRAIN WORM - A MUST SEE! | Health Masters (TM)

Originally Posted by jonsi

Quit being so paranoid about people coming into our country. If "M" could be identified as an infectious disease we'd all be locked up.

In the white light,
~jonsi

Jonsi, you are as entitled to your opinion as are any of us here, but please refrain from callingthose of us who disagree with you and are concerned about the health of this country "paranoid." I find that extremely offensive. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not diseases never seen in the US, like Chagas, are being brought into the US by illegal aliens. Since we do not know how or where Morgellons originated there is no way to say that it originated in the US either. How would you know it is not being brought in from some other place in the world? That's an assumption only on your part, not a fact.

Originally Posted by tcmgpt13

How about contacting Congress about the flood of illegal aliens entering the country without any health checks. How do any of us know, with no testing, we do not have some of the parasites and diseases that are now spreading around the US? Not saying any of these diseases are M, but if anyone contracts some of these horrific infections then it certainly would allow M to develop.

Originally Posted by tcmgpt13

Congress needs to investigate this issue big time. Not only is all of this costing medical dollars that should go to legal citizens and their care it is weakening the health of the nation. Although the Republican party is blamed in this article towards the end I think both parties are equally guilty for exposing legal citizens to this quagmire of sickness and disease. They have known about some of these issues for years, but sit on their hands to obtain more votes to stay in office, many accumulating vast amounts of money for themselves and their families during that time. Many do not enter that "profession" as millionaires and more, but most of them leave Congress that way

Originally Posted by tcmgpt13

Illegal Immigrants Are Spreading Dangerous Diseases Across This Nation
By Dave Gibson (05/12/05)

It is often said that the flood of illegal immigrants into this country is reaching 'epidemic proportions.' While that statement is true--it is just as true that the illegal immigrants pouring over the U.S.-Mexican border are endangering this country with actual epidemics.Tuberculosis, hepatitis, dengue fever, chagas, and even leprosy are being imported into the U.S. inside the bodies of illegal aliens...And you thought they only carried heroin-filled baloons inside their bodies!

A 'hot-zone' of disease can be found in this nations border states. Illegal immigrants are setting up so-called "colonias" just inside the states of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The shanty towns are comprised mostly of cardboard shacks and huts made with cast-off building materials. They have no sanitation, and are surrounded by mounds of garbage. The estimated 185,000 illegals share their makeshift towns with armies of rats. Of course, diseases only common to Central and South America run rampant in these places.

One of the imports to this country is chagas disease. It is caused by a parasite known as trypanosome. It is a blood-borne disease and is spread by triatomine insects. The parasite burrows into human tissue (usually in the face), where it then begins to multiply. In addition to being spread by insects, it can also be contracted through blood transfusions.

After cases of chagas were reportedly discovered to have been spread by transfusions in Canada, that nation began testing all blood donations for the disease.

For 40 years, the number of recorded cases of leprosy within the United States totaled 900. Today, we know of more than 7,000 current cases of leprosy in the U.S.

Dr. John Levis of New York's Bellevue Hospital's Hansen Disease Clinic said of America's documented cases of leprosy: 'There are probably many, many more and they are spreading."

Most of those in the U.S. who are suffering from leprosy are from Mexico, India, Brazil, and the Caribbean. However, there are a few documented cases in which the person became infected with leprosy inside the U.S. The majority of the cases have been discovered in this nation's northeastern region.

Once thought to be nearly eradicated in this country, TB is now making a strong comeback. In a recent interview with Mother Jones Magazine, Dr. Reichman of The New Jersey TB Clinic recently said: In the 1990's, cases among foreign born Americans rose from 29 percent to 41.6 percent. Antibiotic resistant strains from Mexico have migrated to Texas. Since three years ago, 16,000 new cases of TB were discovered in the United States. Half were foreign born. Strains of TB once only found in Mexico have migrated to the border states of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California. It will move north as illegal aliens work in restaurants as cooks, dishwashers, and food handlers. We sit on the edge of a potential catastrophe."

In 2001, New York's Tuberculosis Control Program discovered that 81 percent of that city's new cases of TB were attributed to immigrants

Cases of TB are now being found in many areas of the country, where there are high concentrations of illegal immigrants. In March of 2002, The Washington Post reported that Virginia's Prince William County experienced a 188 percent increase of TB infections over the previous year. Yes, the streets of Prince William County are over-run with illegal aliens seeking day-laborer jobs.

Last year, the rate of TB in the northern part of Virginia rose 17 percent. The Va. Department of Health blamed the rise on that region's recent flood of illegal immigrants. Many strains of TB are being found in certain neighborhoods, which are dominated by illegal Latin American immigrants.

The threats posed to our country by illegal immigration are many. However, our political leaders will undoubtedly continue to ignore them. Our own president is willing to place all Americans at risk, in exchange for securing the Latino vote for the Republican Party.

If left unchecked, illegal immigration will destroy this nation one way or another.

[Robin]

Do you know what really stinks TCM is its already hapened and it started alot longer than illegal immigrants although i also believe all of the above! it can actually be backtracked in time.i believe and always have that the first incident of introducing foreign parasites began when they started shipping slaves over from africa that were infected.that ws the beginning then all the illegal immigrants that were infected added more foreign parasites.then beneficial foreign nematodes everywhere without even knowing what they were capable of doing! after all they are basically all the same PARASITIC!
What the heck is wrong with these scientists never even considering what the long term outcome would be!
Old World Hookworm, New World Hookworm - Origins and History

[sammy]

Jonsi, How do you know M isnt being brought across the border. Most of them dont speak english and are afraid too say anything so i completely disagree with you there. Illegal immigrants are causing many health issues we havent seen for decades like mesales whopping cough tb. yet the govt refuses to do anything with border control. they keep our wages down live in over crowded homes. crime. I could go on for hours. sammy

[tcmgpt13]

Doctors quoted in this article state that few people in the suburbs are being exposed to parasite infectons. Oh really? One thing the people in the suburbs are not receiving in any great numbers is testing or treatment for parasite infections which they, too, might have. Instead they are being fobbed of with disagnoses of DOP.

Here's one very true statement from one microbiologist quoted in this article: These are diseases that we know are ten-fold more important than swine flu, said Peter Hotez, a microbiologist at George Washington University and leading researcher in this field. They're on no one's radar.

Developing World's Parasites, Disease Hit U.S. Researchers Say Infections Spread by Bug Bites, Larvae Are Flourishing Along Border and in Other Pockets of Poverty

By STEPHANIE SIMON and BETSY MCKAY

Parasitic infections and other diseases usually associated with the developing world are cropping up with alarming frequency among U.S. poor, especially in states along the U.S.-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.

One obstacle is that the diseases, long thought to be an overseas problem, are only briefly discussed in most U.S. medical school classes and textbooks, so many physicians don't recognize them.

Some of the infections are transmitted by bug bites and some by animal feces contaminated with parasite larvae; still others are viral. All spread in conditions of overcrowding, malnutrition, poor sanitation and close contact with animals receiving little veterinary care.

These are diseases that we know are ten-fold more important than swine flu, said Peter Hotez, a microbiologist at George Washington University and leading researcher in this field. They're on no one's radar.

The insect-borne diseases -- among them, Chagas and dengue fever -- thrive in shanty towns along the Mexican border, where many homes have no window screens and where poor drainage allows standing puddles for bugs to breed. Outbreaks of a bacterial infection transmitted in rat urine have cropped up among the urban poor in Baltimore and Detroit.

Such parasites as toxocara -- shed in animal feces -- thrive in the soil and sandpits where poor children often play. There are an estimated 10,000 toxocara infections a year in the U.S. Symptoms include wheezing, fever and retinal scarring severe enough to blind.

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 U.S. who live below the poverty line, he said, There is real suffering.

Consider cysticercosis, caused by ingestion of tapeworm larvae. Medical journals estimate 3,500 new cases a year in the U.S., mostly among Latin American immigrants. The larvae spread through the bloodstream and can damage the heart, lungs and brain.

Several times a year, pregnant women complaining of seizures come into Jeanne Sheffield's obstetrics practice at Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas, which serves a mostly poor, Hispanic population. Dr. Sheffield orders MRIs and often finds lesions in the brain, a telltale sign of this parasitic infection.

In recent years, as the immigrant population has spread, Dr. Sheffield said, cysticercosis has cropped up in states that have never had to deal with it before, including Iowa, Missouri, Ohio and Oregon. Treatment is available but complex; patients must remain on anti-seizure medicine for years.

Chagas disease, another troubling infection, begins with the innocent-sounding kissing bug, an insect endemic in parts of Latin America and also found in across the American South, especially Texas.

The bugs are often infected with a tiny protozoan parasite, which they excrete after snacking on human or animal blood. When a bite victim scratches, he may accidentally rub the parasite into his open wound -- and an infection takes hold. Chagas spreads more easily in poor rural communities where homes without window screens get infested.

Many of those ill with Chagas are immigrants or travelers who became infected elsewhere; as many as half develop complications such as cardiac inflammation that can cause heart failure. br />
Most blood banks in the U.S. began screening for Chagas in the past two years, as concern about the disease mounted. Hundreds of cases have been detected, with especially high rates among Hispanics in Florida and California.

Nationally, one in 30,000 potential blood donors tests positive -- yet many don't seek treatment even after they are told they have Chagas, said Susan Stramer, executive scientific officer of the American Red Cross. Many are immigrants who don't want to draw attention: "They're afraid of the consequences of finding out they're infected in the U.S," she said.

One of the few Chagas clinics in the nation is run by Sheba Meymandi, a physician at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. br />
Dr. Meymandi hits the road one weekend a month with a car full of PVC piping and lengths of cloth, which she uses to transform church sanctuaries into makeshift clinics with curtained exam rooms. At each stop, she tries to persuade Latinos to be tested.

It is a hard sell. Those who feel fine see no need to be tested for what sounds like an exotic disease. And those who have heard about Chagas have also heard that the treatment is exceptionally grueling -- three daily doses of a drug that can cause insomnia, nausea, memory loss and a possible lack of sensation in the limbs. The cure rate is about 70%.

Dr. Meymandi presses on, spurred by the reports that regularly cross her desk, such as the recent case of a 38-year-old gardener who dropped dead, his heart ruined by the parasite. "This is no longer an exotic disease," Dr. Meymandi. It's prevalent/

Public-health experts say the first step in fighting the infections is to learn more about them. ;We understand the basic biology,said Mark Eberhard, who directs the parasitic-diseases division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But we don't understand that much about the burden of these diseases

Hoping to raise awareness -- and money for research -- the CDC is teaming with private foundations to organize a national summit this fall for doctors, nurses, community activists and politicians.

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,as their consequences threaten to increase U.S. health-care costs.

[sammy]

TCM, This is what I dont understand about a parasite infection and doctors. Do they realize there is such a thing as a parasite. certainly not the derms I have seen which is now around 9. These are certainly being brought into this country from outside. I think they all need too go back too medical school and study can rember when I was in bio class a tapeworm was passed around in a jar. dont they teach this anymore. or dont they want too bother. sammy