Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comStudent's virulent TB prompts testing of 150 classmates
Seeded on Fri Jan 13, 2012 2:27 PM EST (msnbc.com)
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Was the student an illegal alien?
Are you? Or are you just an a$$hole normally..
Mike - Use your brain and look at the statistics. So many illegal aliens come to US from countries where TB cases are many, many times higher than in US.
Max, please read my post below. And No, I am not a alien, legal or otherwise. My mother's grandparents, who both died from TB, were already 4th generation Americans when they contracted TB around the turn of the century. I contracted TB in 1959, before the Cuban influx, so we can't blame them. TB is a disease that is normally fought off by your immune system, because it's been around as long as we have been around. When a person has a diminished immune system they can't fight off the disease. I had the mumps and then, evidently, was exposed. My son was a premie, who had reoccuring pnuemonia. It really has nothing to do with immigration. And believe me, I am a stalwart ANTI-ILLEGALS GAL.
This is not at all my area of study. Could someone write about the TB vaccine used in parts of Europe, what strains are covered and just general info. I googled it and I can't find a quick reliable source.
from what I know (not my area either though) its not all that protective, and makes a PPD unreliable...so prob not worth it
Max, my first response to your post was alarm that anyone would think that way. Then I found this CDC report:
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsworldtbday/
While TB exists in the US independent of aliens, most foreign bord cases are from Mexico. When you are right you are right.
Here is an addtional link with related information by state. Guess which states have the higher rates?
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsTB2010Data/
Max, simple logic, in your case, would be to ban all travel abroad for every American. Unless of course they provide a specific itinerary and that itinerary can be officially validated real time by a sort of chaperone, who of course would also be banned from accompanying said individual unless the chaperone's movements could be validated by a chaperone, who of course...........
This strain of bug is worldwide, we do not know exactly where until after infection, so Americans would be eternally banned from leaving the country.
Very cool idea, kudos. Wish I'd thought of it.
TB was wiped out in the US until the illegals started arriving. Why was a kid with TB allowed to attend classes?
You are wrong... And with just a tiny bit of logic you would have figured that out.
Proamerica-Gee you need to read more. TB is anything BUT eradicated ANYWHERE. I know from first hand experiences. My mother's father was orphaned by TB in Pennsylavnia, at the turn of the century. I had TB as a child in the late 1950s in Miami, Florida, and then in the 1980s my son contracted TB when we were living in North Carolina. 3 different states, 3 different cities, 3 different decades. My point of exposure was never determined. My son was exposed by a neighbor from Finland who had been misdiagnosed for months. With the onset of HIV/AIDS, TB has become an even more dangerous disease. The child in this story did nothing wrong, the parents did nothing wrong. Because of ignorance, like yours, even within the medical community, the child was probably mis-diagonosed like my neighbor. My prayers are with the child and I hope he or she doesn't suffer too much from the stigma of having a communicable disease. Misinformed people can, as you have shown, be cruel and hurtful.
proamerica
Get a CLUE. If TB had been wiped from the US borders they wouldn't TEST on a regular basis for TB exposure, especially in food service and other public contact employment.
TB Statistics from WHO:
https://extranet.who.int/sree/Reports?op=Replet&name=%2FWHO_HQ_Reports%2FG2%2FPROD%2FEXT%2FTBCountryProfile&ISO2=US&outtype=html
Oh dear....
Many current cases of TB in the USA occur in people who have emigrated here, but much of this arises from the relapse of latent TB they probably caught decades ago. There are about 8 million new cases worldwide [scarily half a million are MDR/XDR and this is rising] and about 2 million people die. Most people exposed don't get disease, but the status of your immune system isn't much of a factor unless you are HIV positive, then you are in big trouble. In fact, it is the HIV epidemic that drives TB worldwide, including in the USA where TB rates were dropping [less than 20,000 two decades ago but certainly not "wiped out"] but then surged again as HIV spread.
We are in trouble. NIH is funding grants on all medical topics including TB at only a 7-percentile level. The vaccine is crap, and there is nothing to suggest the "new vaccine" is any better. We are running out of drugs. Diagnostics are still in the stoneage. Catastrophe awaits [especially is we cannot control HIV, as Mandela once thoughfully pointed out].
Interesting....we've had a case in our area of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania as well.
I also live in Chambersburg...it's amazing which stories make it to the national news and which do not. That said, I think it is deplorable of our state health department to refuse releasing information as to how many of our children have been infected and that they are refusing parents' request to have their children tested for the disease unless they received a letter home requiring it. My child has been in contact with at least one person that has tested positive and at least five others who were among the group of 200+ who were required to be tested. It seems as if they are playing a dangerous game of Russian roulette. I have a feeling we will be seeing more active cases before long.
It seems to be happening a lot more these days...scary.
For everyone that thinks that TB is not in their communities.... Go to your local health department. Most have a TB clinic. Why you ask? Because TB is in all corners of the US, just like it is in other countries. Unfortunately, all too often the patients that are diagnosed do not take the full course of their medicine. Most that stop do so after they feel well and do not want to put up with the side effects any longer. The problem with that is that when the course of meds are stopped, the bacteria can become resistant and the infection comes back. That is part of what contributes to the multi-drug resistant forms of TB. It the past, people with TB were confined to a sanitorium. There they received the proper nutrition and any available meds. Currently, there is a hospital that people with drug resistant forms of TB can be forcibly confined to. In my opinion, if a person does not take their meds, they also should be forcibly confined to this hospital. Yes, this person has rights. BUT those rights do not include possibly infecting other people. With TB, any person that is near a person with TB can be exposed by just standing too close and getting coughed on. I say, quarantine or confine a person until they are deemed to not be contagious any longer. This is not politically correct but it may just be for the greater good.
This just recently happened on my college campus as well. The student was a foreign student, and she ended up being hospitalized for a good while. I'm unsure if she is still there. A large amount of students were tested and many more freaked out.
I hope the infected person in this story recovers.
Dollars to doughnuts the kid was an illegal. I work in ER and can't even begin to count all the TB that is reported to the TDH! Yeah one person coughs and next it is everywhere. People in 3rd world countries are not as astute about the transmission and spread of newer DRX strains of TB. EXPECT MORE! EDUCATE YOURSELVES! EDUCATE YOUR CHILDREN! Wear a mask or have one nearby! Not hatin' on anyone, just sayin'!!!
Trust me, TB doesn't care what your nationality is, or if you have a green card. This is a GLOBAL emergency, so leave the xenophobia at home please.
I thought the same thing, then I found this CDC report:
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsworldtbday/
While TB exists in the US independent of aliens, most foreign bord cases are from Mexico. When you are right you are right.
Here is an addtional link with related information by state. Guess which states have the higher rates?
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsTB2010Data/
Big Ian, you are one of thousands that will never address this issue.
When you have millions that have come into this country, illegally, are not tested, what in the
name of God do you expect... Its people like you that turn a blind eye, then you have an all
out epidemic.
These issues, diseases can't be ignored, be placed in a racist room, then to kill millions that
you never informed...
These illegals are in your children's classrooms..
Lived in California for seven years, just moved away and believe me if you could see what is
happening you would be very alarmed as well..
The border states are worse but the invaders have moved to all states.. Be prepared.
To the person who wrote this article...............is there anyway you can get a message to the person and people with TB? If you can tell them Coconut Oil. Coconut will help support the immune system. If you need proof, google it. Coconut oil has a plethra of benefits.
You are making the assumption that their immune system is weak. In fact, it is the huge immune response that TB induces that drives the damage in the lungs. Keep your snake...excuse me...coconut...oil to yourself.
Why was the kid even in school if they were sick with TB? Hello! Stay home!
They probably didn't know they were "sick with TB". The signs and symptoms of TB are chills, fever, fatigue, night sweats, loss of appetite (which depending on how long you've had it - can cause weight loss also) and cough.
So, next time you have these symptoms, are you going to assume you have TB? Probably not, you'll probably think what most people (and probably this student and/or his parents thought) - that you have a bad virus. Most people don't go to the physician with these symptoms until they've lasted more than 7 - 10 days (how long it should take for the typical virus to pass). So, in the mean time, if the person actually had TB (as in this case), they could unknowingly be spreading it to others.
Whenever I have symptoms like these, or different symptoms, I stay home. I'm not gonna risk infecting others.
Please do remember our department of Justice has placed illegals right into the mix of everyone.
They just passed a law allowing all cities to become or are sanctuary cities..
We now are instructed to harbor them.
DC does not care if we or our children get sick..
If you zero in on an illegal child, ask any questions you are in deep trouble..
Hell when they go to a Hospital you can't ask them if they are citizens or not.
No S/S, no ID of any kind... Some do have false ID's..But all employees are
instructed to not ask any pertinent questions.
So, isis, you miss work or school every time you have vague common cold symptoms? The symptoms that indicate something more is going on aren't obvious until AFTER the person has potentially infected everyone.
Damn right, I can't get anything done when I'm sick, and when I get the cold it sure as HELL is not vague, let me tell you. Like I said, I'm not gonna go to schoo hacking and sneezing, and infect other kids.
If I had flu symptoms I would stay home. I had to go home once in the middle of the day because I got sick.
Are you saying that I should just stay at school, and infect other students? And disrupt their learning?
It disrupts my learning as well, since when I'm sick, I'm too miserable to even pay attention or do anything.
Just because you "don't know" is no reason to go around spreading the illness.
FYI, I am not working yet.
isis: While I agree that we should do a better job of protecting others when we are sick - I think you are probably stretching the truth here a bit. If you're not stretching the truth, then you, quite honestly, are being paranoid. The reason I say cold & even flu symptoms are vague is because they are symptoms of many things - most of which aren't even communicable. Once it becomes obvious that it's viral or bacterial, then sure - stay home. But, if you stay home because you sneeze and cough (or hack), then you are missing out on a lot for no real legitimate reason.
I am NOT missing out on a lot, since I'm hardly ever sick.
But you do NOT know me, and you do not know what it is like when I am sick, so who are you to tell me what I'm missing out on, huh? Nobody.
Healthy people who are exposed to TB normally fight the disease into a submissive state. They then have a latent infection which they may carry with them for the rest of their lives. While the disease is in a latent form, there is no risk to other people. The risk that the latent infection will reactivate decreases every year and is the highest the first few years after a person is exposed. However, anything that seriously weakens the immune system, such as old age or AIDS, can allow the reactivation and the person will then have active TB.
The drugs used to treat TB have their own risks. In 1970, several thousand people were treated with isoniazid because of a TB outbreak on Capitol Hill in the District of Columbia. 19 developed liver disease from the isoniazid treatment and 2 died. (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr4906a1.htm) Typically treatment for TB requires months of therapy. Non-compliance is frequent.
People with active TB may not have serious symptoms. Hopefully most of the students will have a negative TB skin test. Even those who do test positive, if they are healthy, have no risk factors (HIV), and have no signs of the disease, should consider the risks of the drugs versus the risks of TB.
I agree with you to a point.
I was on INH for 9 months. My doctor was extra vigilant and did discuss the risks of the treatment. While liver damage is very possible with this treatment, I think I would rather risk it than developing active TB. I'm not trying to lose a lung or be quarantined or worse. Plus, I welcome getting old but not being old with tuberculosis.
Hopefully, his type of tuberculosis is MDR, and not XDR. Lung re-section is an exquisitely painful surgery, and the post-op pain can be very severe and very long lasting. Unfortunately, that pain can occur in as much as 50 percent of more of lung re-section patients who have to undergo a full open thoracotomy. I would not wish this pain on anyone, believe me. I truly hope that he can avoid that circumstance.