Strange question from my doctor's office, related to the Pope.

I called my doctor's office to schedule an appointment today.
I am used to the usual question of 'Have you visited West Africa recently?'
But today I was asked a different one:
'Were you in Philadelphia when the Pope visited?'
I did a Google search, but got no hits that indicated why they would ask me this.

Is there some communicable disease that has spread through the Philadelphia area since the Pope's visit?
I find it odd that they asked that question.
Help with info if you have any. Thanks in advance!

That is strange.

I found this: Philly hospitals prepare for unusual illnesses before papal visit

The city's Health Department has posted a special World Meeting of Families website with lists of disease symptoms, diagnostics and treatments and instructions on patient isolation and the use of personal protective equipment. It also includes a public health screening tool to aid clinicians in evaluating patients for potential infectious disease.

The department is instructing health care providers to take a detailed travel history from patients and to report diseases to a special hotline.

ETA: Elsewhere in the article it lists typhoid and yellow fever; the chikungunya virus that produces fevers and joint pain; malaria; polio; and tuberculosis.

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
That is strange.

I found this: Philly hospitals prepare for unusual illnesses before papal visit

The city's Health Department has posted a special World Meeting of Families website with lists of disease symptoms, diagnostics and treatments and instructions on patient isolation and the use of personal protective equipment. It also includes a public health screening tool to aid clinicians in evaluating patients for potential infectious disease.

The department is instructing health care providers to take a detailed travel history from patients and to report diseases to a special hotline.

ETA: Elsewhere in the article it lists typhoid and yellow fever; the chikungunya virus that produces fevers and joint pain; malaria; polio; and tuberculosis.

I think it might be because of the number of foreign nationals from around the world who would be going to Philadelphia to visit the pope. People travel from all over the world to see the Pope, and not just Catholics, either. People from a lot of poorer countries with communicable disease problems.

That would be my guess.

a reply to: ~Lucidity

Ok. Thanks.
I forgot about the World Meeting of Families!
It would make sense for them to keep an eye open for communicable diseases when so many people are there from all over the world.
I guess.
But then there are people coming in from all over on a normal day anyway. Thanks for the info!

a reply to: butcherguy

www.phillymag.com...

Hundreds of thousands — perhaps a million or more — people are expected in Philadelphia this weekend for Pope Francis, and where there are people, there are germs and disease. And where there are lots of people and their germs and diseases crammed into one area, well, you have to take precautions.

Earlier this week, the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health’s Division of Disease Control sent out an advisory to hospitals and the greater medical community in Philadelphia, reminding them of the potential for illnesses that we’re not used to seeing here.


"The healthcare community should be prepared for a variety of infectious diseases and a potential surge of patients," reads the advisory. "All suspect and confirmed cases of communicable diseases should be reported immediately" to health authorities.

If you're visiting from Australia, you might have brought Dengue Fever with you. If you're from Poland, Hepatitis C. Australia and Poland are associated with only one illness each.

But some countries are associated with a bevy of things you probably don't want to catch, like African Sleeping Sickness (Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria) and Japanese Encephalitis (Pakistan and Vietnam). Nigeria tops the list with eleven diseases, including malaria, polio and tuberculosis.

One is left wondering what good border security and customs screenings are doing if we have to play Six Degrees of Separation with possible exposure after potential carriers have already been allowed into the country.

I'm about an hour outside Philadelphia and, no, there hasn't been any reports on communicable diseases since the Pope was here. A family member attended the Sunday Mass and is fine. Of course, maybe the media is being muzzled? Strange question from the doctor!

a reply to: burdman30ott6

What border security?

Yeah, border security no longer deals with controlling diseases entering the country anymore. They leave it up to the CDC and your doctor to figure that one out.

Another thing to note: many Catholics around the world believe that the Pope can heal the sick just by looking at someone, so it is not uncommon for some very devout Catholics in very poor countries, without access to decent medical care, will pool their resources to try and get a sick family member to wherever the Pope is in the hopes that the pope will cure them or pray for them. Many times, these people have contagious diseases uncommon or unheard of in the developed world. And him being the Pope and supposed to be God's PR person on earth, he is likely to be spending a lot of time visiting sick and dying people.

So I guess wherever the Pope goes, you have the potential of plagues simply because he attracts everyone kind of person from everywhere.

With that many people in close proximity, tuberculosis also came to mind - it's airborne. I read the other day it's on the rise in the UK, and there is now a drug resistant strain.

Oh, I just noticed someone else had already listed TB. But Polio! Good grief. That was a terrible affliction. We sho don't need that again.

a reply to: Skadi_the_Evil_Elf

That's kind of my point. We pay taxes to establish things like airport customs and border entry check stations which *used* to be justified by serving as America's first line of defense in keeping those with known serious communicable diseases out of the country... I'm just amazed that these agencies can justify the expense of preventing Kinder Eggs and Absinthe from whatever chaos our ass-end of insanity laden government believes they would cause, yet has next to no real culpability in stopping a real public health threat from entering the nation.

Score one more for America, I guess.

a reply to: butcherguy

What happens if you say yes? Also, what if you were in close contact with someone who was?

a reply to: butcherguy

I think it's because the Doc was determining whether or not you have caught the gay.

It's a disease that morphs into the brain resultant from contracting propaganditis.

On a serious note though, the popes security was beefed up as a result of biological weapons threat

The pope meant have you fuknhjk berlblloooen esknemnlb.
I think it was clear, what is not clear is what was your bloody question!

Ignore Philly is #in obvs!!!

Working at one of the top hospitals in Philly and also living here I can tell you I would be more surprised if a clinical person was not asking you that..

The number of visitors to the city as both fans of the pope or security-supplementary services was massive and originated from multiple countries.

To me it seems total common sense to be asked that question when such a large gathering of diverse people just occurred some place.

originally posted by: Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
a reply to: burdman30ott6

What border security?

Yeah, border security no longer deals with controlling diseases entering the country anymore. They leave it up to the CDC and your doctor to figure that one out.

Remember the "unexpected" "unaccompanied minors" from the south that infected thousands of our youngsters with "mysterious" illnesses which killed a few and paralyzed others....? Well, just wait until the "refugees" get here by the tens of thousands.
Enjoy!

a reply to: eluryh22

Most of the things I've read... are easily solved. The children have worms (easily solved) and otherwise respiratory problems requiring a round of antibiotics. I've haven't heard of anything really terrible.

a reply to: butcherguy

But today I was asked a different one:
'Were you in Philadelphia when the Pope visited?'

Last January my mother had a stroke so we were in the hospital visiting a lot. They always advised us to wear masks, they were concerned about measles.

Straightforward enough. They also asked us on the phone about measles. Usually they don't ask about something that isn't already around.

If they want to know if you were there when the Pope visited its because they are screening for something that is 'around'. Something specific. Theres no need to ask about your itinerary if they haven't found anything.

Like to hear from someone that answered yes to that.

originally posted by: angeldoll
a reply to: eluryh22

Most of the things I've read... are easily solved. The children have worms (easily solved) and otherwise respiratory problems requiring a round of antibiotics. I've haven't heard of anything really terrible.

I don't mean this as a dig at you... but reading "Most things I've read" immediately reminds me of all of the articles I read that indicated that doctors "had no idea" why children in these schools were becoming so violently ill last September through February. It was only when I started to dig in and read the incredibly boring reports/findings from the CDC that it became clear that the only "mystery" about these infections/diseases is that they are common in many of the regions where the "unaccompanied minors" were coming from. The info isn't hidden. It's just not advertised.

Fact of the matter is when people in large numbers enter a new region of the planet unchecked and unscreened, medical issues will arise. People living in region-A simply do not have an immune system to deal with a huge influx of people from region-B.

a reply to: eluryh22

This isn't just a recent thing. Growing up in California with a lot of migrants kids (legal statuses unknown) going to public schools, every year outbreaks of things like meningitis, TB, ect were commonplace when I was growing up. But of course, no one gave a crap back then. So why does anyone care now?

Hell, forget about the migrants. What about the dodgy, substandard food we keep importing from China and other places that is considered unfit for human consumption by most civilized countries? Contaminated with poisons and pesticides long banned over here, or by human sewage and disease due to substandard production practices?

I've come to the conclusion that border and customs really exist there to make money for the government, and not really keep anything or anyone safe.

originally posted by: Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
a reply to: eluryh22

1) This isn't just a recent thing. Growing up in California with a lot of migrants kids (legal statuses unknown) going to public schools, every year outbreaks of things like meningitis, TB, ect were commonplace when I was growing up. But of course, no one gave a crap back then. So why does anyone care now?

2) Hell, forget about the migrants. What about the dodgy, substandard food we keep importing from China and other places that is considered unfit for human consumption by most civilized countries? Contaminated with poisons and pesticides long banned over here, or by human sewage and disease due to substandard production practices?

3) I've come to the conclusion that border and customs really exist there to make money for the government, and not really keep anything or anyone safe.

Hope you don't mind, but I numbered your points just for ease of response. Also, you seem pretty rational so thank you for that.

1) Historically in the United States, even in regions where there are very low numbers of recent immigrants (legal or otherwise) there have been sporadic "outbreaks" of TB and meningitis and other horrible ailments. However, what was experienced last year was well above and beyond that. We are talking about kids literally going from being completely healthy to being dead within a few days. There are also the children that were rendered paralyzed that just a few days earlier were completely healthy. Yes, that in and of itself doesn't seem like much but when (very quietly) the information is released that these children died of diseases/ailments that are common in the same regions where there was a HUGE influx of "unaccompanied minors"...AND the children that were afflicted lived in the communities where many of these "unaccompanied minors" were settled in......
I know first hand that when someone emigrates to the United States legally, in addition to all of the lengthy/convoluted (and expensive to file) paperwork, there is a decent amount of medical investigation that is done. Beyond just having a physical, verifiable immunization records from the country of origin are required and any tests and/or vaccines that have not been administered are done so in the early stages of the immigration process.

2) While I suspect I agree with you on the food practices you mentioned, I'm going to divorce that from the immigration topic we are discussing. (To be candid, I think you and I could probably go on and on about how the US Government is causing an incredible amount of harm to all of us with their policies or lack thereof). To the topic at hand, bad behavior by the Government on one issue does not excuse bad behavior on another.

3) I disagree only in that I don't think that Borders/Customs is meant to be a money maker. I believe that at some point, many decades ago, when common sense was more common and the world was less politically correct, the Borders/Customs agencies served a purpose and for a while, served the public well. Now, it seems they exist just for the sake of existing.

Be well.