Perilous infectious diseases rise in county
Jane Daugherty:
Tuberculosis is up almost 25 percent from 1998 in Palm Beach County; during the past year alone, the number of TB cases here increased 14 percent. Increases also were reported in Martin and Miami-Dade counties. But most other urban areas in Florida reported decreases last year, including a 22 percent drop in Broward and a 38 percent drop in Pinellas.
Other communicable diseases tracked in Palm Beach County also are rising: Acute hepatitis B cases increased by 22 percent in the past year; chronic hepatitis C grew by 3 percent. Hepatitis attacks the liver. The most virulent stains, including the B virus, can be fatal; the C virus is the largest cause of liver transplants in the United States.
Among sexually transmitted diseases, gonorrhea increased 7 percent in Palm Beach County in the past year, with 823 cases reported. Chlamydia infected 2,304 people, an annual increase of 3 percent, the same increase as reported for infectious syphilis, with 37 new cases reported.
"Some people get scared to death by these things," said Dr. Jean Malecki, the county health director. "There is something very shocking about these diseases in a community so many people associate with the height of affluence. But you have to remember that Palm Beach County is a study in contrasts: extreme wealth right next to extreme poverty, old line society employing the most recent immigrants in their back yard. Lots of diversity."
With its median household income of $45,062 and two of the richest coastal islands in the country, Palm Beach County seems an unlikely hot spot for diseases that more typically plague undeveloped countries.
Medical investigators say the increase in communicable disease here is fueled, in part, by the number of immigrants, legal and not, arriving in South Florida in record numbers. The last census estimate indicated that one in five county residents is foreign-born, and almost half of those have arrived since 1990. That does not include the tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants living here, many of whom are afraid to seek medical care for fear of being deported.
Another major factor is foreign travel for business and pleasure. Tourism is the county's No. 1 industry, accounting for $2.6 billion in revenues in 2004, according to the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches. More than 6 million people flew in and out of Palm Beach International Airport last year. Some of them carried or contracted communicable diseases in their travels, Malecki said.
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posted by Adam Lawson @ 3:25 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
This is a good post to remember when the issue of day labor centers comes up. What better way to spread communicable diseases than by mixing (1) primarily illegal immigrants who have not passed health tests and (2) an ever changing group of both workers and employers, both groups of which mix with many other groups, including children in schools.
This is a good post to remember when the issue of day labor centers comes up
True, but unfortunately any time someone brings up the negative effects of illegal immigration, the pro-immigration types start complaining about "immigrant-bashing".
Political correctness is the new McCarthyism. McCarthy was discredited by brave people who stood up to him inspite of the unpleasantness. Remember, if they have resorted to name-calling - immigrant-basher, racist, xenophobe, etc - you have won the argument. They don't have the facts on their side.
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