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Once again, the media has released a "nature is out to kill us all" article. Source: Comcast News. The writer of the article was, to be quite blunt, pretty damned irresponsible in selecting the information with which the reader is presented. Go figure. I will break this down point by point and fill in the blanks after each article snippet. My comments are in boldface: Para.1: More than 10,000 people per year are hospitalized with Clostridium difficile.Response: 10,000 people is about 0.00003% of the population of the United States. Hardly a widespread epidemic. Para. 2: The germ is resistant to...

When it comes to understanding, preventing and treating chronic diseases, multiple sclerosis ranks among the most challenging. The word “multiple” is apt in more ways than one. Various suggested causes include early-life exposure to certain viruses or toxic agents, geographic and dietary influences, inherent immunological defects and underlying genetic susceptibilities. MS is highly unpredictable. Rarely are any two patients alike in the presentation, duration and progression of symptoms; even the underlying cause of disability in MS is being reconsidered. And rarely do any two patients respond in the same way to a given therapy, be it medically established or alternative....

SPRINGDALE - The Arkansas Department of Health in Little Rock says some Northwest Arkansas doctors have wrong information that's leading them to fears of leprosy cases

The medical community is warning the public: a leprosy outbreak in Springdale could blossom into an epidemic, if something isn't done soon. Doctors say at least nine cases of leprosy have been confirmed in Springdale. Local doctors say they would be shocked by even one case of leprosy in their entire career, so they say something must be done soon, in order to stop leprosy's spread. Springdale MD Jennifer Bingham says, "my initial response was: I am shocked. I am shocked we are seeing this. It's a true reason to be very worried." Medical specialists say the Marshall Islands have...

LITTLE ROCK -- The people of the Republic of the Marshall Islands are among the unhealthiest people in the world. An estimated 6,000-8,000 Marshallese immigrants live in Springdale, AR. and the surrounding areas, of whom 867 are children enrolled in the Springdale School District, Pritchard told the House and Senate Interim Committees on Public Health, Welfare and Labor.Deputy State Health Officer Dr. Joe Bates testified that between 2000 and 2005, Northwest Arkansas had nine cases of congenital syphilis, six of which involved Marshallese; 38 people with infectious syphilis, 21 of whom were Marshallese; and nine cases of leprosy, all Marshallese....

Memories help construct lives and life experiences—without them, living life would be nearly impossible. Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases are debilitating illnesses capable of ruining victims’ lives and inflicting pain and sadness on their families. Recent findings at UC Irvine show that the use of stem cells can reverse memory loss after brain injuries and diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. “This study can very well benefit people with diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as physical brain injuries and neuron loss, if it becomes transferable to humans,” said Debbie Morisette, a stereologist working on the study. “But as of right...

A Los Angeles County hospital has opened the first clinic in the country devoted to studying and treating Chagas disease, a deadly parasitic illness that has long been the leading cause of heart failure in Latin America and is now being seen in immigrant communities in the United States. Unless Chagas is treated early, little can be done to halt its advance. Yet because 10 to 20 years can pass before heart or gastrointestinal complications develop, many people don't realize they're infected with what has been called a silent killer. "We really, really need to become more aware of the...

All of the employees at the Wayne Farms fresh processing plant in Decatur have received tuberculosis skin tests and 212 of them tested positive. Health workers read and tabulated a final batch of tests Wednesday, said Scott Jones, interim director of the State Department of Public Health's Tuberculosis Control Division. Of the 598 tests administered Monday, 165 tested positive. In skin tests administered to 167 fresh processing employees Oct. 11, 47 tested positive. One of the 47 has active tuberculosis disease, which is contagious. All told, 28 percent of those who received skin tests at the fresh processing plant tested...

A Mexican national infected with a highly contagious form of tuberculosis crossed the U.S. border 76 times and took multiple domestic flights in the last year, according to Customs and Border Protection interviews and documents obtained by The Washington Times. he Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency was warned by health officials on April 16 that the frequent traveler was infected, but it took the Homeland Security officials more than six weeks to issue a May 31 alert to warn its own border inspectors, according to Homeland Security sources who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. Homeland...

Dermatologists in North Texas were alerted Friday to be on the lookout for a rare skin infection caused by a parasite that may have migrated north from the Mexican border. The disease, leishmaniasis, typically causes a half-dollar-sized boil that takes six to 12 months to heal. It is not considered life-threatening. Doctors at UT Southwestern Medical Center said they have identified nine cases of the skin disease in North Texans in recent months. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that all nine people, both adults and children, were infected by the parasite, Leishmania mexicana. Typically found in Mexico...

As our nation slowly is overrun by illegal immigrants, we must realize there are not just societal and economic issues, but medical concerns as well. It has become second nature for people to sit back and make justifications for allowing illegal immigration. However, unless they acknowledge the consequences they are not likely to understand its full implications. Investor's Business Daily reported on Aug. 29, that Francisco Santos, an illegal immigrant, was arrested at Gwinnett Medical Center on Aug. 24 when he refused treatment for an active case of contagious tuberculosis and threatened to leave the hospital and return to Mexico....

China Faces Crisis of Credibility Before Olympics By John E. Carey Peace and Freedom June 13, 2007China has a crisis on its hands. With less than a year to the final run up to the Beijing Games next summer, Chinese pet food has killed American pets; Chinese toothpaste has been found to contain thinners that are poisonous; Chinese catfish are prohibited by Alabama and Mississippi because of high levels of antibiotics; a company in California has recalled “monkfish” from China because it is probably really puffer fish containing the toxin chemical tetrodotoxin.On Tuesday, June 12, 2007, China’s number two envoy in...

A prominent medical attorney who has studied illegal immigration concludes the porous border with Mexico poses a major public health threat to the U.S. Madeleine Pelner Cosman, author of a report in the spring issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, is particularly concerned with increases in multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis, chagas disease, dengue fever, polio, hepatitis A, B, and C, she told Lou Dobbs on CNN last night. "Certain diseases that we thought we had vanquished years ago are coming back, and other diseases that we've never seen or rarely seen in America, because they've always been the...

Stanford University Date: February 25, 2007 Why Do Humans And Primates Get More Stress-related Diseases Than Other Animals? Science Daily — Why do humans and their primate cousins get more stress-related diseases than any other member of the animal kingdom? The answer, says Stanford University neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky, is that people, apes and monkeys are highly intelligent, social creatures with far too much spare time on their hands. "Primates are super smart and organized just enough to devote their free time to being miserable to each other and stressing each other out," he said. "But if you get chronically, psychosocially...

Many babies born short of vitamin D Janet Raloff Even in the womb, babies face a high risk of vitamin D deficiency, a new study finds. The sunshine vitamin is a building block for a hormone that not only helps build bone and muscle, but also fights infections and many chronic diseases. Lisa M. Bodnar of the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health and her colleagues collected blood samples from 400 first-time moms early in their pregnancies and again at delivery. Half the women were black, and half were white. More than 90 percent of the participants took multivitamins—including...

Federal researchers say neurocysticercosis, a brain infection caused by a pork tapeworm, is a "growing public health problem in the United States," especially in states bordering Mexico, where the disease is endemic. ..."international travel and immigration are bringing the disorder to areas where it is not endemic," such as this country. "Neurocysticercosis is the primary cause of epilepsy in endemic areas. This brain worm is very serious," Victor C. Tsang, chief of the immunochemistry laboratory in the Parasitic Disease Division of the CDC said... "Oral-fecal contamination is the standard route of transmission," he said of the condition... "Recent data indicate...

Source: Texas A&M Health Science Center Date: January 28, 2007 Bacteria In Staph Infections Can Cause Necrotizing Pneumonia Science Daily — Researchers at the Texas A&M Health Science Center Institute of Biosciences and Technology at Houston have discovered a toxin present in the bacteria responsible for the current nationwide outbreak of staph infections also has a role in an aggressive pneumonia that is often fatal within 72 hours. "The virulence of CA-MRSA (community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) strains that produce the PVL (Panton Valentine leukocidin) toxin presents a nightmare scenario," said M. Gabriela Bowden, Ph.D., research assistant professor at HSC-IBT and...

People infected with a deadly, virtually untreatable new form of tuberculosis should be isolated and confined -- against their will, if necessary -- to prevent a "potentially explosive international health crisis," according to a group of Canadian and African scientists. These harsh measures are justified given the "extreme risk" posed by an ongoing outbreak of extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) in South Africa, they argue in today's edition of the medical journal Public Library of Science Medicine. "We're not saying put people in leper colonies," Ross Upshur, director of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics and co-author of the...

HIV, Malaria Fuel Each Other's Spread, Study Says Scott Norris for National Geographic News December 7, 2006 A deadly synergy between HIV and malaria appears to be fueling the spread of both diseases in Africa, a new study suggests. The report, in tomorrow's edition of the journal Science, is the first to assess how Africa's increased rates of infection are in part caused by an interaction between the two diseases. HIV makes people more vulnerable to malaria by weakening their immune systems, the researchers say, and contracting malaria may worsen a patient's pre-existing HIV infection, possibly making it more communicable....

U.S. immigrants pose TB threatFrom coast to coast, more cases found raising fears of new drug-resistant strain Posted: October 22, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com WASHINGTON – The worst forms of a drug-resistant killer tuberculosis bug, rapidly spreading throughout the world, have been gaining ground in the United States along with record legal and illegal immigration levels, alarming public-health officials over a disease once thought vanquished. Although the number of confirmed drug-resistant TB cases in the U.S. is relatively small – still measured in the dozens – health officials say visitors from other countries are bringing in the...

The American's Guide to Cuban Diseases Destemplanza: Mysterious body temperature, not high enough to be considered fever, but serious enough to miss school and work. Illness is unknown by the American Medical Association and understood only by doctors of Cuban origin. Patatú: Attack of obscure origin that can strike at any time. Could be serious enough to require hospitalization, yet is undetected by medical technology. Victims tend to be males and females over the age of 50 years. Sirimba: Attack with similar symptoms as the Patatu's but not as serious and with shorter duration. Can be alleviated by lying on...

The Morgellons Fibre Disease The mysterious Morgellons Fibre Disease might be an example of a mutation that should have never happened, but is now a worldwide tragedy (See world map) and might be the beginning of a whole new trend. The disease presents us with the strange case of a bacterial mutation with a simultaneous parasite mutation, their symbiotic linkup, and the production of filaments and gels in the body that are not biological in nature. The disease is both quite new and highly mysterious. According to a report it is carried into human biology by nematodes that are tiny...

Navy Cmdr. Tara J. Zieber assists an Iraqi Army medic who is preparing needle and thread used to suture wounds Saturday July 15. Story and photo by Cpl. Antonio RosasRegimental Combat Team-7,1st Marine Division CAMP AL QAÂ’IM -- Iraqi nurses and corpsmen will soon be able to treat patients for diseases, thanks to U.S. military physicians serving in this region along the Iraqi-Syrian border. Navy doctors provided Iraqis two days of training designed to teach them how to treat patients for parasites like hook worms. The microbial pests have caused a variety of health problems in locals here, including mental...

The U.S. emergency medical system is in critical condition and on life support -- overburdened, under-funded, and highly fragmented, according to three new reports released Wednesday by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). According to the reports, ambulances are being turned away from emergency departments and patients can wait hours or even days for a hospital bed. And, as it stands, the system is currently unprepared to handle overloads of patients from disasters such as hurricanes, bombings, or disease outbreaks, the authors contended. "These reports reinforce something we have known for a long time," said one expert, Dr. Rick Blum, president...

Caribbean spiny lobsters are normally gregarious creatures, enjoying the company of living together in underwater caves. ADVERTISEMENT But friendships are quickly severed if a lobster starts to smell like it's infected with a lethal disease. Even before an infected lobster starts showing symptoms, its mates pick up on the infection and avoid the sick one like, well, the plague, forcing it into a solitary existence. While the cold shoulder might sound harsh, it's an extremely effective means of maintaining low incidence of the disease in the wild, researchers write in a new study published in the May 25 issue of...

Moregellons Makes Your Skin Crawl With Threadlike Strings Coming Out Of Sores (CBS) LOS ANGELES It's a "mystery” straight out of the "X-Files." But those who suffer from it will tell you it's painfully real. Imagine sweating "beads” of a *black tar- like substance" -- or pulling colored threadlike strings from sores all over your body. Worst of all... not only are doctors unsure of what it is, many tell patients they're making it all up. The disease literally makes your skin feel like it's crawling-- but here's the real scary part for us. Out of the entire country, the...

If diseases like AIDS and bird flu scare you, wait until you hear what's next. Doctors are trying to find out what is causing a bizarre and mysterious infection that's surfaced in South Texas. Morgellons disease is not yet known to kill, but if you were to get it, you might wish you were dead, as the symptoms are horrible. "These people will have like beads of sweat but it's black, black and tarry," said Ginger Savely, a nurse practioner in Austin who treats a majority of these patients. Patients get lesions that never heal. "Sometimes little black specks that...

(snip) From Mexico's perspective, the border encompasses some of the country's most economically prosperous states. In contrast, the U.S. border region is among the poorest areas in the United States, with >30% of families living at or below the poverty level[8]. Along the Texas border, an estimated 350,000 or more people live in 1,450 unincorporated areas known as colonias, which lack adequate sanitation infrastructure[8]. The large population movement, limited public health infrastructure, and poor environmental conditions contribute to increased incidence of certain infectious diseases[8-11] Analysis of data from the U.S. National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System for 1990 through 1998 showed...

Washington, D.C. — Concerned Women for America (CWA) pleads with young women across the country to take caution and safety measures as they enter the spring break season. The American Medical Association released a study which says that 83 percent of college women admit that spring break involves increased consumption of alcohol, and 74 percent said the break is a time to indulge in sexual activity. “The danger of spring break is that students have an attitude that ‘anything goes’,” said Dr. Janice Crouse, CWA’s Senior Fellow of the Beverly LaHaye Institute. “The idea that this vacation has no...

MARTINEZ - County clerk-recorder's officials denied a marriage license to a same-sex couple in Martinez this morning. "They came in right at the stroke of 8 and had a picket sign asking for the right," said office manager Tanya Gutierrez. "They just wanted to bring attention to that fact that it's not equal." Gutierrez said the two women "were pretty satisfied with my answer as far as it not being legal. Certainly if it were to become lawful, we'd be happy to issue a license. We are sensitive to the public in regard to this issue." She said the couple...

Back in the day, we had a name for those who defied the definition of monogamy. They were called swingers. But today, it seems the rules have changed and the prevalence of open relationships has increased significantly. Open relationships are often defined as a situation in which couples agree that it is acceptable to date and engage in sexual activity with other people while still maintaining a relationship with each other. But a better definition may be cheating without the guilt. Over the past few years, the social stigma of engaging in polyamory has greatly subsided on college campuses —...

A drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis from Mexico is worrying U.S. health officials. Many Mexicans are using potent, readily available drugs such as telithromycin to treat TB, but they are not meant for the disease. That fact, along with short-term and inconsistent medicine use creates a drug-resistant variety of the life-threatening illness that could spread, the Brownsville Herald reported. WND INVASION USA Resistant TB from Mexico feared Strain entering U.S. can't be treated with drugs Posted: January 31, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com A drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis from Mexico is worrying U.S. health officials. Many Mexicans are using...

  PUBLISHED ON JANUARY 19, 2006: A Matter of Numbers Experts say it's only a matter of time before an animal disease disaster strikes the unsecured U.S.-Mexico border By LEO W. BANKS Leo W. Banks Rancher John Ladd says the Border Patrol's Naco station, trying to be good neighbors, has sent out a four-man crew to make fence fixes along his borderland, farther from town. It's not much help. Leo W. Banks Dr. Gary Thrasher, a large animal vet in Hereford, near Sierra Vista, hesitates to name one disease, because there are so many. "I can give you a...

There's a health alert involving the whooping cough vaccine. The American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending that pre-teens be vaccinated—again—to protect against the respiratory illness. The parents of 11-month-old Jose Cano assumed his vaccinations would last a lifetime. But the pertussis vaccine for whooping cough only lasts about five years. In recent years, there's been a serious rise in whooping cough (as it's commonly known), especially among teenagers whose immunity to the disease has expired. Experts blame, in part, immigrants crossing the border from countries where vaccinations are not required. Since the vaccine was introduced in the 1940s, pertussis cases...

: Infectious Diseases Society of America Date: 2005-12-15 New Study Identifies Louse-borne Diseases That Ravaged Napoleon's Army Using dental pulp extracted from the teeth of soldiers who died during Napoleon’s disastrous retreat through Russia in 1812, a new study finds DNA evidence that epidemic typhus and trench fever ran rampant among the French Grand Army. The study, published in the Jan. 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online, identifies the specific species of louse-borne pathogens that were a major cause of death among the remains of the retreating army. Napoleon marched into Russia in the summer...

Some health care officials are urging local governments to start providing health care services for the region's illegal aliens -- or get ready for more outbreaks of contagious diseases like tuberculosis. "Unless you're able to do something about the immigration issue, if you cut services to all undocumented ... that's very stupid," said Francisco Semiao, education and outreach coordinator at George Washington Cancer Institute. "You're going to have a bunch of people walking around with who knows what, spreading Lord knows what," he said. "They ride the Metro seven days a week, and you do the math." Although most local...

I Just Read This Great New "Prescription Thriller"-Carmen Piper and the Protest. A Must Read for Any Conspiracy Theorist!

"Americans should be told that diseases long eradicated in this country — tuberculosis, leprosy, polio, for example — and other extremely contagious diseases have been linked directly to" illegal immigrants, Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.) told the Business Journal of Phoenix last month.

Health officials: syphilis outbreak worsening in southern Idaho By The Associated Press Thursday, June 30, 2005 BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- A syphilis outbreak that started in 2003 is worsening in Canyon County and parts of southern Idaho, health officials say. Since the outbreak began, the Southwest District Health Department has found 104 cases of the sexually transmitted disease in its region, which covers six counties in southwestern Idaho. Most of the cases have been in Canyon County. The cases have been spread evenly among men and women. Half of those infected have been jailed in the past and 70 percent...

The American Academy of Pediatrics is warning of the worst outbreak of whooping cough in 40 years, while those concerned about border control see it as more evidence that vanquished diseases are spreading due to widespread illegal immigration. Whooping Cough, or pertussis, is particularly dangerous for children and can be fatal in infants, warns the doctors group.

<p>A multidrug-resistant tuberculosis known as MDR-TB is persistent in California, primarily among its "foreign-born" population, and has serious financial implications for the state's public-health system, federal and state health officials said yesterday.</p> <p>"Treatment for MDR-TB is very expensive -- ranging from $200,000 to $1.2 million per person, over an 18- to 24-month time period," said Dr. Reuben Granich, a lead investigator for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during a press conference in the District yesterday.</p>

THE WASHINGTON TIMES A multidrug-resistant tuberculosis known as MDR-TB is persistent in California, primarily among its "foreign-born" population, and has serious financial implications for the state's public-health system, federal and state health officials said yesterday. "Treatment for MDR-TB is very expensive -- ranging from $200,000 to $1.2 million per person, over an 18- to 24-month time period," said Dr. Reuben Granich, a lead investigator for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during a press conference in the District yesterday. Dr. Granich's findings were published yesterday in tomorrow's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in an...

A multidrug-resistant tuberculosis known as MDR-TB is persistent in California, primarily among its "foreign-born" population, and has serious financial implications for the state's public-health system, federal and state health officials said yesterday. "Treatment for MDR-TB is very expensive -- ranging from $200,000 to $1.2 million per person, over an 18- to 24-month time period," said Dr. Reuben Granich, a lead investigator for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during a press conference in the District yesterday.

Leprosy, the contagious skin disease evoking thoughts of biblical and Medieval times, is now making its mark in the United States, and many believe the influx of illegal aliens is a main factor. "Americans should be told that diseases long eradicated in this country – tuberculosis, leprosy, polio, for example – and other extremely contagious diseases have been linked directly to illegals," Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., told the Business Journal of Phoenix. "For example, in 40 years, only 900 persons were afflicted by leprosy in the U.S.; in the past three years, more than 7,000 cases have been presented." "This...

41 of the 222 workers tested for tuberculosis at a chicken plant in Broken Bow, OK have tested positive for exposure, Oklahoma State Health Department workers say. Health workers began testing workers at the Tyson Foods chicken plant after a worker there was diagnosed with the tuberculosis disease.

Government plans to tackle a predicted bird flu pandemic have been attacked by a scientist who fears an outbreak could kill two million people in the UK. Professor Hugh Pennington, president of the Society for General Microbiology, criticised ministers' "optimism" and said a vaccine needs to be ordered now. Experts predict bird flu will mutate with human flu leading to a pandemic. The government says its plans to tackle an outbreak - which include stockpiling antiviral drugs - are comprehensive. Bird flu has killed at least 47 people in South East Asia over 15 months and there are suspected cases...

Sunday, March 13, 2005 INVASION USAIllegal aliens threaten U.S. medical systemDocs journal reports hospitals being closed, previously vanquished diseases being spread Posted: March 13, 20051:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Cristobal Silverio emigrated illegally from Mexico to Stockton, Calif., in 1997 to work as a fruit picker. He brought with him his wife, Felipa, and three children, 19, 12 and 8 – all illegals. When Felipa gave birth to her fourth child, daughter Flor, the family had what is referred to as an "anchor baby" – an American citizen by birth who provided the entire Silverio clan a ticket to remain in...

One Reporter's Opinion – Importing Disease George Putnam Friday, Feb 25, 2005 It is this reporter's opinion that when the president and first lady return from the fence-mending trip to Europe, he and the 'Ayatollah in the White House,' Karl Rove, need to lock themselves in the Oval Office and review the findings of the February 17, 2005 testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee: Three of the nation's highest-ranking Homeland Security officials issued a chilling warning that al-Qaida will exploit our lax border enforcement to infiltrate terrorists and weaponry into the United States. CIA Director Porter Goss, FBI Director Robert...

Contagious diseases are entering the United States because of immigrants, illegal aliens, refugees and travelers, and World Health Organization officials say the worst could be yet to come. In addition to a list of imported diseases that includes tuberculosis, sickle cell anemia, hepatitis B, measles and the potentially deadly parasitic disease Chagas, officials fear what could happen if the avian flu, which is flourishing among poultry in Southeast Asia, mutates so that it is capable of human-to-human transmission through casual contact.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Bahamian Minister of Health Dr. Marcus Bethel enjoy a laugh during a speech given by Dr. Perry Gomez, chief of internal medicine and infectious diseases at Princess Margaret Hospital Friday, Feb. 4, 2005, during a news conference on the hospital lawn in Nassau, Bahamas. Clinton, who is on a three-day visit to the Bahamas, toured the Specialty Clinic which houses the AIDS ward and announced at the briefing that the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation HIV -AIDS Initiative would fund the Bahamas programe. (AP Photo/Tim Aylen)