Posted on 01/17/2013 7:02:49 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding a young immigrant from Asia who officials say is infected with a rare drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis.
The man was detained by the Border Patrol trying to sneak into South Texas on Nov. 27.
Several days later, while undergoing a medical screening at the Port Isabel Service Detention Center, he was diagnosed with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, the least treatable form of the disease.
Officials declined to identify the infected man other than to say he is young and from an Asian country.
It's only the third time since 2008 the strain has been detected in Texas, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
“This is a very rare situation, and XDR is considered to be a very dangerous disease,” said Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the department. “But it's not easily transmitted and we have no reason to believe community exposures have occurred.”
Within two hours of being taken to the Port Isabel facility, the man underwent a medical screening that showed signs of tuberculosis and was transferred to the unit's airborne infection isolation facility, said Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for ICE in Washington.
“The individual remains in medical isolation in ICE custody, where he is receiving the appropriate treatment from ICE medical staff, in consultation with tuberculosis experts and the Centers for Disease Control,” Christensen said.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that can be fatal, but normally is easily treated, said Subramanian Dhandayuthapani, a microbiologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
“It's very much treatable, Dhandayuthapani said. “But once they get infected with these multi-drug, extremely drug-resistant strains, it's questionable because those strains are difficult to treat.”
The ease of global travel has made it easier for tuberculosis to travel to the U.S. from other countries and the majority of the people infected here are foreign-born, he said. In the Rio Grande Valley, cross-border travel means strains of the bacteria make their way into the United States.
Send him to the White House for treatment. Keep him next to the b*tthole in chief.
We can hope.
They’re coming across the Mexican boarder from all over the world and bringing their diseases with them. There is a reason why our grandfathers and great grandfathers passed the immigration laws that they passed. “Rascism” didn’t have a damn thing to do with it.
Open borders... what could possibly go wrong?
Be very afraid if your family lives in a sanctuary city. It is inviting disaster.
bttt
Asian/Oriental or Asian/Middle-Eastern? If it's the latter, many ugly possibilities spring to mind.
Never fear, I will issue an Executive Order... 
making it mandatory that TB never, ever be served rare, but always cooked until fully done.
Hey, it for the children... 
don't you know!
Don't ya just love they way... 
our President solves all these problems those evil Republicans could never do?
Be more than afraid, be pissed.
I spent from ‘05 til present chasing those invaders around down there and for the last couple years have been having severe nerve problems.
Spent last year having all kinds of nerve tests ran and biopsys ran in Houston. Suggested to doctors something from foreign land. Of course they ruled everything out and still have not determined what is wrong.
Still think I caught something from one of these worthless sacks of shiite.
Wasn’t he lucky to be caught.Now he is treated at our expense. If there is a cure he will get it.We will pay for it.
Wonder how in that Asian country he is from he got a strain of TB that is so resistant to drugs? Do they have all these drugs in that much abundance where he came from, or did someone send him over as a typhoid Mary to spread this disease?
Maybe I am just paranoid.
How many don’t get caught on the border?
In the 21st century he's known as the Hamimmigrant
TB is a bacteria. There are a number of resistant bacterias showing up in the U.S. these days.
Bacteria could easily be spread by the hands after a cough. Any open would would allow the bacteria to enter another victims blood stream. A simple hang nail could be deadly around this guy. This is not a simple non-event.
This is one of the bigger reasons we have boarder laws. A rouge agent, being used as a "mule", could easily carry a pandemic into the U.S. across the southern boarder. Who would stop him? Nancy Pelosi? ( she's be on her private plane and safely flying out of the country within minutes of an outbreak. She'd get her own as$ covered. Most open boarder politicians do.)
Hey! “ Dhandayuthapani” is my middle name! And 40 years ago, I had TB. Was locked in a ward for almost a year. Lost everything I had. Then,,, they finally figured out I had atypical TB, not contagious, and that I’d probably caught it gardening. Took meds for another year or so.
If you did that, every Golf Course in the country would be a breeding ground for this rare strain of TB.
LOL.
Shoot him, and burn him out back. Sometimes life ain’t fair.
Guaranteed to cost the taxpayers at least $50,000 for treatment.
In the UK, “Asian” is used to refer to Pakistanis.
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