Dengue Fever on Our Doorstep: Climate Change Drives Disease Re-emergence in U.S.

OnEarth Magazine ^ | June 29, 2010 | Scott Dodd

[granite]

Chagas disease is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, a parasite related to the African trypanosome that causes sleeping sickness. It is spread by reduvid bugs and is one of the major health problems in South America. Due to immigration, the disease also affects people in the United States.

The fact is these insects (kissing bug) have been here for years. We are in the San Jacinto Mountains about 100 miles North of the border in Riverside County. About three years ago we had a swarm of these that lasted all summer. I was bit on the throat and it swelled to the size of a grapefruit. I was tested for Chagas and was negative; my neighbor, not so lucky. I have about 12 of these guys in a jar with no sign of life.

[Finny]

Yep. Between the outlawing of effective pesticides like DDT and the un-outlawing of unscreened, infected illegal immigrants who have contagious diseases, U.S. docs are in for some busy times.

[Scythian]

Yes, it’s not that the insects are new, but they are biting illegals and are now carrying chagas where they didn’t use to in these parts, of course, chagas is coming in through tainted blood and such, but yes, the bugs are not new, just who they are biting is new ..

[Bob]

You could get rid of every illegal immigrant in the U.S. and there'd still be a Dengue epidemic if Dengue-carrying mosquitos are present. Dengue is spread by mosquitos, not illegal immigrants.

And I suppose that the mosquitoes are biting only citizens in order to become Dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

If mosquitoes bite someone without Dengue, they're annoying but not terribly significant when they later bite you. If mosquitoes bite illegals who have Dengue (Look at the map.), the results are far different.

[dalebert]

Sory ..its Bush’s fault

[Finny]

????????

[Finny]

You won't get Dengue unless you're bitten by a mosquito that's carrying it.

Illegal immigrants have nothing to do with it, and neither does climate change. Not even George Bush has anything to do with it!

In my opinion, the outlawing of DDT has everything to do with it.

[Bob]

You won't get Dengue unless you're bitten by a mosquito that's carrying it.

To be carrying it, just where do you think that the mosquito picks it up in the first place? Mosquitoes don't create the Denque; they can only pick it up from someone who's infected. While most of those folks with it are south of the border, many of them are crossing the border illegally without any health screening.

[SwinneySwitch]

Q. Where can outbreaks of dengue occur?

A.Outbreaks of dengue occur primarily in areas where Ae. aegypti (sometimes also Ae. albopictus) mosquitoes live. This includes most tropical urban areas of the world. Dengue viruses may be introduced into areas by travelers who become infected while visiting other areas of the tropics where dengue commonly exists.

http://www.cdc.gov/dengue/fAQFacts/index.html

[Smokin' Joe]

You don’t get it from other people; you get it from a mosquito bite.

I'm not familliar with the life-cycle of the disease. Where do the mosquitoes get it?

[TASMANIANRED]

Mosquito diseases were all but eradicated with DDT.

[FreedomPoster]

Bingo!

Count on FReepers to cut through the mierda del toro in the first 10 posts, getting to the real crux of the issue, and you guys did it in posts 3 and 4.

[Darnright]

>Gee, it couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the millions of illegals coming into this country.<

Bingo!

[Darnright]

>Gee, it couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the millions of illegals coming into this country.<

Bingo!

[granite]

It appears that not all blood banks test for Chagas, in fact those that do are in the minority. Immigrants give blood as well as citizens to supplement their incomes. This cannot be good.

[Finny]

Where do the mosquitoes get it?

I don't know, but post #49 has info that's helpful.

I know it isn't contagious because I had it once, and it's nasty; had a temperature of over 104 at one point. I lost about 10 pounds in a little more than a week. I got it in Pago Pago, American Samoa, 1975. Just to be sure, I did an internet search to see if the doc who treated me and told me it wasn't contagious was correct. He was.

[Finny]

Mosquitoes don't create the Denque; they can only pick it up from someone who's infected.

Source, please?

[Smokin' Joe]

I guess my question was more of one if mosquito infections occur in offspring of mothers who have bitten people or animals which were infected.

If so, the presence of infected people could spread the disease to mosquito populations which spread the disease to more people and so on. In something like that, the presence of non indigenous people who are infected (not subjected to health screening at the border due to illegal entry, for instance) could well cause the spread of the disease to mosquito populations which previously did not have the pathogen.

Parts of the area I live in are notorious for mosquitoes, and therein lies my interest.

[Bob]

Source, please?

Ask and ye shall receive:

How is dengue contracted?

The virus is contracted from the bite of a striped Aedes aegypti mosquito that has previously bitten an infected person.

(emphasis mine)

Excerpted from:

MedicineNet.com site

[Finny]

I still think it's a stretch to attribue Dengue outbreaks to illegal aliens, and while I was screened and NOT allowed on any commercial airliners until a doc confirmed for the airline that what I had was Dengue, and therefore NOT CONTAGIOUS, once they knew it's what I had, they were fine with me flying back to California.

Outlawing of DDT is what has brought an increase in Dengue, IN ANY CASE, regardless of how the mosquitos get it. But this thread is a prime example of the FReeper version of "It's Bush's Fault." No matter what it is, it's Illegal Aliens' Fault.