TB Is Back - Thank Joe

If you allow people from all over the world to come here by the millions in violation of our laws, you make no effort to screen them for infectious diseases and you push them into our largest population centers, you are going to see outbreaks of disease. People are going to die. The health of all Americans is going to be negatively impacted.

That’s exactly what is happening now. U.S. cases of tuberculosis, a deadly infectious disease have soared to their highest level in a decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). After 27 years of declining tuberculosis rates in the United States, cases of the disease started to climb again in 2020. They have continued to rise every year since.

In 2023, tuberculosis cases rose by 16% compared to the year before. Among children 5-14 the increase was 42 %. Seventy-six percent of the tuberculosis cases in the United States in 2023 were in non-U.S.-born persons.

Tuberculosis, which is caused by a bacteria that typically attacks the lungs, is one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world. Roughly 4,000 people a day die from tuberculosis worldwide.

When an infected person coughs they expel water droplets carrying the tuberculosis bacteria. Those droplets float around in the air. If breathed in, the bacteria in the droplets settle in the lungs of the person inhaling. That person is then infected.

It doesn’t take a genius or a medical expert to understand what that means in a crowded urban environment especially one in which mass transit is routinely used.

A study in Lima, Peru found that individuals riding buses or minibuses daily were 12 times as likely to contract tuberbulosis as those who did not.

A similar study in Buenos Aires determined that 30% of all the tuberculosis cases in the city were connected to the use of public transporation.

Another study in Houston found that individuals who rode the bus more than an hour were eight times as likely as others to becoming infected with tuberculosis.

The numbers provided for 2023 by CDC are likely only the tip of the iceberg. Tuberculosis can remain dormant inside a person for years before the infected individual begins to show symptoms. In that case, since the individual does not feel sick he or she is unlikely to go to a doctor, and their condition will remain undiagnosed. Individuals with latent tuberculosis may never develop symptoms. Just as likely after a period of years they can develop symptoms and begin to spread the disease to others.

One third of the people on the planet are infected with tuberculosis. If untreated, fifty percent of infected people will die.

Here’s a list of the things tuberculosis does to your body if not caught in time and treated.

• extensive lung destruction

• acute respiratory distress syndrome, which is the buildup of fluid in the lungs, preventing them from filling with air

• empyema, which is the accumulation of pus in the space between the lungs and the surrounding membrane

• systemic amyloidosis, which is the buildup of the protein amyloid in the organs, preventing them from working correctly

• damage to cervical sympathetic ganglia leading to Horner’s syndrome, which is the disruption to a nerve pathway that affects one side of the face and head

• miliary spread, which refers to the dissemination of TB to multiple parts of the body

• pneumothorax, or collapsed lung, which occurs when air leaks into the space between the lungs and the wall of the ches

“Tuberculosis can spread throughout the body and cause extensive damage to the lungs and other organs, including the brain, liver, and kidney, by multiplying in the bloodstream. It can also cause scarring of tissue in the lungs, leading to serious respiratory issues. TB can also cause fever, coughing up blood, weight loss, and chest pain. The infection can enter the bloodstream and spread to any other organ in the body, where it can cause further damage and damage organ function.

If left untreated, Tuberculosis can quickly become life-threatening. If a person’s body is unable to fight off the infection and keep it contained, TB can lead to sepsis and organ failure. Sepsis is a serious infection of the bloodstream where bacteria and toxins overwhelm the body, leading to a cascade of events that can damage multiple organs and quickly become life-threatening if not treated quickly. Once the body goes into septic shock, the organs and functions of the body can shut down, leading to death.”

Breath Clinic, Jaipur, India

Tuberculosis is no joke. It has not been eradicated. It kills on a vast scale worldwide. For many decades in this country our health system has been able to control it and protect us from its effects. All of that is changing now.

Every day thousands more individuals flood into this country carrying tuberculosis. They are processed and then, at your expense, moved into our biggest cities where they ride mass transit, sit next to your children in class and stand next to you in the grocery store. All the world is coming here, and they are bringing with them all the diseases of the planet.

Tuberculosis is back. People are dying. Many more will do so in the future. Thank Joe.