Kansas high school finds 27 positive tuberculosis cases

There is a high number of south of the border folks in KS.

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: ketsuko

Isn't it just as likely it was a US citizen that was the first case?


We are talking Kansas here, not exactly a border state.

Thanks for this heads-up! I have relatives in the area---not in high school--- thankfully.
I don't think we'll be told if the initial case was an illegal. This will fall under HIPPA or some other privacy rule.
My grandmother and two of her children died of TB in the early 20th century. Back in those days a notice of the presence of TB had to be posted on the front of the house. I suppose that custom of informing the public of the danger has gone the way of the horse and buggy.
I also find it interesting that a relative of mine who is a social worker in Nashville was just telling me that she had to tested for TB because one of her immigrant families had three active cases diagnosed recently. I did a quick search and didn't see it reported in the news.
She was fairly upset because she is pregnant. Fortunately her tests were negative. She's also quite upset because the illegals are bringing lice. When each worker has to go through a complete sanitation routine between clients it slows down the process of getting things done.
I hope all those affected can find relief and a cure shortly.

a reply to: NavyDoc

By That, I take your meaning as,(reading between the lines) By TPTB letting these Illegals stay here to be 'compassionate' to them, even if they are sick as dogs, is wrong. Right? I agree!!!

Because by Us allowing them to break the law, and be here before going through proper channels, where diseases would be caught at the border, we're just 'letting the bugs out of the jar.'

Did I read You Right? If So, Then

a reply to: kosmicjack

Erm. No. TB re-emerged in the late 1980's after it was thought to be eradicated, and the new epidemic peaked in 1992. There are still serious issues but the numbers have been falling fairly steadily.

Tuberculosis in New York city: recent lessons and a look ahead

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, after decades of decline, the incidence of tuberculosis began to rise in New York city, reaching a peak of 3811 cases by 1992. The epidemic took root in a setting of inadequate treatment regimens, homelessness, a diminished public-health system, and the onset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In addition, a subepidemic of drug-resistant tuberculosis occurred throughout New York city, most notably in a series of well documented nosocomial outbreaks. By 1994, using broadened initial treatment regimens, directly observed therapy, and improved US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for hospital control and disease prevention, New York city began to effectively halt the progression of the epidemic. By 2002, tuberculosis rates in New York city reached an historic low of 1084. However, given the presence of a large reservoir of latently infected individuals in the city and an ongoing tuberculosis pandemic, New York city continues to face significant challenges from this persistent pathogen.

....By 1968, the disease seemed so utterly tamed that health officials in New York City, once a TB hotspot, believed the disease was on the verge of eradication and began to close its clinics. (Within twenty years, two-thirds of its TB clinics were closed.)

TB, however, didn’t disappear; in fact, it began to spread rapidly in the city’s homeless population, as detailed in this study in The Lancet. And then there was a lethal spike in what had been an almost forgotten disease....

Worldwide, there were eight million seven hundred thousand new cases of TB in 2011, the last year for which comprehensive statistics are available.

....But the current state of American politics doesn’t look up to the job either just now. Gamesmanship over the federal budget increases our vulnerability—to TB and to the whole spectrum of resistant disease organisms. In particular, the budget sequester fixed in place by the House G.O.P. caucus increases the risks we face daily. Definitive decisions about the implementation of the sequester are still taking shape, but the Centers for Disease Control alone is losing four hundred and seventy million dollars, and estimates of the damage include the loss of TB services in eleven states. More than four hundred thousand H.I.V. tests won’t get done this year. As many as twelve of the twenty border-quarantine stations the C.D.C. may close, and its Global Disease Detection centers—the front line of U.S. defenses against emerging diseases—are also under threat. In the long term, the sequester threatens to cut out a generation of basic biomedical research. All the while, M. tuberculosis continues to evolve.

reply to: soficrow

Among which populations? I doubt it's high schoolers from the midwest


www.mayoclinic.org...

a reply to: kosmicjack

Incidence is falling pretty much across the board, with non-whites remaining most affected. Besides race, incarceration status, low income and crowded housing are risk factors.

originally posted by: ketsuko

"I know they had found a student with active TB, but now they have tested the students and found 27 positive cases thanks to the one active case. Oh, and it's not over either.
"Maybe letting our borders just be open to whomever wants to walk across them isn't such a good idea.

How does this SAD story of some sick children turn into a Rant on border patrol? It's TB we have always had random cases throughout the years what makes you think it was Immigrant related? I read the article nowhere does it state that type of idea or reference to a causation..poor kids..

a reply to: soficrow
So it wasn't mostly eradicated but it certainly wasn't a big worry for the average American - so not sure how we disagree? Off the top of my head...besides Kansas....California, Georgia and Texas, have all had clusters in high schools recently. Each of these states has a huge number of students from immigrant populations.

a reply to: diggindirt

This interesting, I had problems with many of the immigrant children I worked with in the school system and the problem with lice, the families could not understand why in our school system lice is a big deal, for them it was not.

Sometimes it was even comical, having to tell these people that they needed to control the lice problem at home.

Also My husband lost two aunts to TB when they were only teenage girls, so sad, they were so beautiful from the pictures I have seen.

a reply to: kosmicjack

...not sure how we disagree?

Ah. You had said TB was eradicated - I showed it wasn't and became a problem again back in 1992. ....Seems clear the real problem is mostly poverty and lack of access to medical care (diagnosis and treatment). Plus co-infections beating down immune systems - a problem that won't go away given that most everything is resistant now.

a reply to: soficrow

I said rare.

a reply to: kosmicjack

Okay. Sorry. But my point stands - it became epidemic again in the 1980's after authorities thought it was practically eradicated. And, after the epidemic peaked in 1992, it has been dropping. But I agree - all things considered, we can't assume it's just gonna go away again. I don't agree the bubble wrap approach will work though - the world is just too interconnected in too many ways.

TB is actually common. Often times people will have it and never know. It can stay dormant forever. It's not like there isn't treatment for it.

a reply to: ketsuko

the illegal immigrants could be a part of the problem. but then so could many legal Americans. lets face it not only do a lot of Americans take a couple weeks to a couple months vacations in poor countries that have problems with things like Tuberculosis, but there are also a lot that actually live in those countries. and since not all countries even allow immigration, those people have to go back home once a year or so (different countries different time periods allowed to stay without leaving the country). and if they are sick? so what they have to leave, no choice they can't stay. so they could easily carry such things back with them. then on top of that, many of those Americans have children in those countries. those children are American citizens (whether they like it or not), as such they are free to pick up and move to the US, bringing in disease with them.

In the UK people are routinely vaccinated against TB, my school actually stopped doing it the year i was due to have it, but all my brothers and sisters had it. Both of my children have had the BCG.
It's not because of illegal immmigration, but because of travel.
There is much more movement around the world now, with people travelling who might not be vaccinated.

originally posted by: SyxPak
a reply to: NavyDoc

By That, I take your meaning as,(reading between the lines) By TPTB letting these Illegals stay here to be 'compassionate' to them, even if they are sick as dogs, is wrong. Right? I agree!!!

Because by Us allowing them to break the law, and be here before going through proper channels, where diseases would be caught at the border, we're just 'letting the bugs out of the jar.'

Did I read You Right? If So, Then

Well yes. When a politician does something to be "compassionate" quite often he is not driven by "compassion." Permitting the spread of a disease is not compassionate.

The problem is that TB is becoming drug resistant. Hopefully, this strain is the regular variety that can be treated, but it takes about 9 months on antibiotics to treat it. In most countries with poorly developed systems, it's hard for patients to get the full course or they simply stop taking the drugs because they think they're better (also a problem here). Because of the length of treatment, this makes TB prime for developing resistance.

Does anyone remember the saga of the immigrant in CA that had drug resistant TB? They put out arrest warrants for him because he refused to stay in one place so they could monitor him and make sure he took a full course of the one treatment for his particular strain of the disease. That happened maybe last year. I never heard how they resolved that.

The point is that an easy screening can catch this disease in both active and latent forms, but if we don't screen because we can't because we don't keep track of who is coming or going ... then we will have more instances like this. At least a legal citizen who traveled will have a travel history with their doctor making possible diagnosis easier and quicker. A doctor might even do a TB test as part of a routine checkup since they are easy to do.

I had one when I started teaching.

Maybe these 27, (out of the 300 or so tested), just showed slight irritation or a reaction at the skin test sight.
(This isn't uncommon)

This would result in a preliminary "positive" diagnosis, until clear chest X-rays (and further testing / evaluation) result in giving the "all clear."

Is it possible that none of these 27 have T.B.?

a reply to: NavyDoc


" When a politician does something to be "compassionate" quite often he is not driven by "compassion." Permitting the spread of a disease is not compassionate." From You. I hear Ya! It's not Compassion, more like ComPression. You know, How much Money they can Compress into their wallet! LOL!! Just trying to interject a little light into a dark situation. Later, Syx.

Isn't that something you get vaccinated for when you're young...??
Strange how another deadly disease that was only heard about from the past is resurging with a vengeance... What are people not getting vaccinated anymore or something?? LOL