Border Surge: Secretary of State John Kerry warns of a new surge of illegals, just as Central America is being hit by a new wave of epidemics. No doubt about it: President Obamas open-borders policy is exposing us to disease, too. In a background press briefing at the U.N. last Tuesday, a senior State Department official said Secretary of State John Kerry told his counterparts from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico that the pause in minors coming across our southern border was temporary, and that we have to use this time to put in place more efforts, greater efforts to get at the root cause of this, because we know that those numbers may rise again. The next wave may be worse than the first, however, because monsoon conditions, a harsh drought and the globalization of transport are ensuring that the 50,000 or so unscreened new entrants will be bringing a raft of new diseases with them. Though little reported, the Caribbean is on high alert for the spread of chikungunya, known as the virus of pain. Its Tanzanian-origin Bantu name means to contort, describing the agony it leaves in joints for years. Some 183,000 cases were detected in the region this year as it spreads from the same mosquitoes that transmit dengue and yellow fever. Central America, according to a report in El Pais, is the epicenter. Puerto Rico has reported 2,000 cases and three deaths. But the disease has worked its way up to the U.S.; Texas and Florida reported victims who have already contracted it without traveling to the affected regions. As IBD reported last week, theres also a monster dengue fever epidemic raging through Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala right now, with 120,000 cases, 60 deaths and public health emergencies declared in those countries, also a result of the rainy season. Dont forget older diseases, either. Theres tuberculosis, which has infection rates in Central America roughly 10 times that of the U.S. According to the World Health Organizations 2013 annual report, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras reported 8,509 cases in the three countries, which have a combined population of about 29.2 million. The U.S., by contrast, reported 9,945 cases from a population of 318 million. WHO reports the prevalence of TB at 34 cases per 100,000 in El Salvador, 110 cases per 100,000 in Guatemala and 82 cases per 100,000 in Honduras. The U.S. has 4.7 cases per 100,000. Read More At Investors Business Daily: news.investors/ibd-editorials/092614-719288-a-new-border-surge-opens-us-to-a-new-wave-of-diseases.htm#ixzz3EW7aShxA Follow us: @IBDinvestors on Twitter | InvestorsBusinessDaily on Facebook
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 12:57:44 +0000
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