Earlier this summer when the unaccompanied minor crisis was at its peak (after really starting in October 2013) in Texas and Arizona, Border Patrol agents working inside processing facilities reported cases of Tuberculosis, scabies and other diseases being brought into the United States by unvaccinated illegal aliens. Warnings were issued by local communities about the impact these diseases could potentially have in the public school system where their children are educated. For example, protestors in Murrieta, California turned bus loads of illegal immigrants away, citing concerns about public health. Those protestors and people who warned about the spread of disease were accused of fear mongering and exaggeration.
Fast forward now to September and thousands of illegal minor children have been shoved into the public education system without meeting normal immunization requirements (because after all, they're entitled to it according to the Department of Education) and into local hospitals for medical care. As a result, cases of Tuberculosis are popping up with five confirmed infections and at least 700 children being put at risk. From NBC:
Five babies have tested positive for tuberculosis infection after an employee at an El Paso hospital exposed hundreds of infants to the disease, according to a statement released by the El Paso Department of Public Health.
And more from the Washington Post:
An employee working at Providence Memorial Hospital in El Paso, Tex., may have exposed more than 700 infants to tuberculosis.
Parents of potentially infected children received a letter from the El Paso Department of Health last week, according to ABC News. They include children born at the hospital between September 2013 and August of this year, when officials discovered that the unnamed female employee had the illness. The employee was originally identified as a nurse at the hospital. The hospital later clarified that she worked as a patient care tech.
Naturally, few in the media are making the connection between the most recent illegal immigration wave and Tuberculosis. According to the National Network for Immunization Information, Tuberculosis kills more people in the world than any other infection.
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