Outbreak--What More Do We Need?

Tweet

I just read a disturbing article regarding a medical announcement. There has been an outbreak of tuberculosis in Long Beach, California. One person is dead, nine are hospitalized and 170 have probably been exposed. There have been 14 people identified with the disease who have been hospitalized. It is currently in an isolated population and is people with certain barriers to needed care. These include those who are homeless, have housing insecurity, serious medical conditions, and substance abuse. All of these cases have been linked to a single-room-occupancy hotel but the name is not being given out supposedly to protect the people's privacy. Other people who have stayed at the hotel recently will be contacted. The microbe that causes tuberculosis can lie dormant in a person with no symptoms. About 4-10 percent of those with the bacteria will develop TB. It passes from person to person by way of airborne particles, coughing or sneezing by a person with active TB, and those around them pick it that way. It tends to spread most easily in poorly ventilated environments. This disease has risen in California by 15 percent since 2022. A commenter in this article said, "The lack of medical screening for immigrants--they are bringing into this country an amount of disease we eradicated decades ago."