Tuberculosis Makes a Comeback

Tuberculosis is one of the diseases that had been (past tense) conquered by modern medicine. Or at least people thought it had been conquered. Not so much anymore.

From California we get an update on a health emergency. California Tuberculosis outbreak kills 1, infects 14 as officials declare health emergency

A deadly outbreak of tuberculosis (TB) has occurred inside a California hotel housing homeless people, leading to the death of one person and forcing city health officials to declare a public health emergency.

The alarming outbreak at the unnamed hotel infected 14 people, resulting in nine people being hospitalized, the Department of Health and Human Services for Long Beach announced Thursday. The identity of the deceased individual has not been released.

There are more details on the people exposed, and what the city/county is doing, though they actually are not saying which city is the site of this outbreak.

California is not alone in dealing with this disease. Tuberculosis breaks out at Chicago migrant shelters following measles cases

Chicago health officials have announced that a "small number" of tuberculosis (TB) cases have been reported at some migrant facilities following a recent outbreak of measles among migrants living in the Windy City's shelters.

The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) said the TB cases were reported in "a few different shelters" in the city. However, officials did not disclose the exact number of confirmed cases or which shelter locations they originated from, Fox 32 Chicago reports.

Measles is another disease that seems to be making a comeback.

The confirmed tuberculosis cases come as more than 55 measles cases have now been confirmed in Chicago, with the majority of those cases being reported in the Pilsen migrant shelter on Halsted Street.

Modern civilization was great while it lasted. (Hat tip to Second City Cop.)

Pay No Attention to the Diseases Crossing Southern Border

Living in a modern civilization was nice while it lasted. Leprosy, Polio, Malaria, TB, Measles … and Massive Unscreened Illegal Immigration

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.

One can only hope that the people responsible for this disaster catch one of the diseases in question.

It seems like only a couple of years ago the .gov was suspending all kinds of rights to "protect" people from a disease. (Hat tip to Ace of Spades HQ)