Youve probably heard of heirloom vegetables. You know, theyre the ones that have been preserved by passing seeds down from generation to generation. Heirloom varieties are generally at least 50 years old, but many are 100 years or older. While heirloom vegetables are actually benignand frequently very tastyit seems to me that we are currently witnessing an alarming wave of another type of heirloom: diseases. I started thinking about it when I read this post from Gateway Pundit earlier today, about an outbreak of typhoid (yes typhoid) in California and Nevada. Typhoid, once the scourge of many major cities, was nearly eradicated by the advent of clean water technologies in the early part of the twentieth century. Yet typhoid is back, and its not the only heirloom disease were seeing in America of late.
Weve probably all seen the reports in the paper, on blogs, and on the nightly news of outbreaks of bedbugs in places like New York City (replete with video thatll make you think twice before climbing into bed). But its not just there. Those little suckers (ha!) are appearing all over the country.
Youre no doubt also aware that weve been having problems with salmonella. According to the Food Poison Journal, there have been 12 major outbreaks of salmonella across the country this year, none of which seem to be related to the current egg recall.
Leprosy is another heirloom that was once nearly wiped out in this country. But in northwest Arkansas in 2008, there was an outbreak. Sadly, its not just in Arkansas, either.
[L]eprosy is clearly here in New York, and our clinic at Bellevue Hospital treats more than 500 identified cases of leprosy. While most are Caribbean, Hispanic and Asian immigrants, in recent years we have identified and reported endemic cases in New York City
Based on the cases we see at the Bellevue leprosy clinic, there are many additional unidentified cases of leprosy in the tristate area and the mid-Atlantic region.
Another oldie once thought to be under control, scarlet fever is back this year, as well, and in our nations capital.
Tuberculosis, another throwback to yesteryear, is also making a come-back. Once thought to be on track to be completely eradicated by this year, evidence suggests that it will not happen.
The U.S. is unlikely to meet its goal for eliminating tuberculosis (TB) by 2010, primarily because of high rates of latent (dormant) TB infection in certain population subgroups, according to a nationwide survey
Continuing basic TB control measures, as well as targeted evaluation and appropriate treatment of individuals in high-prevalence groups including immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities, and poor people are needed to further TB elimination efforts in the United States, Navin and colleagues maintain.
Typhoid, leprosy, tuberculosis, scarlet fever, bed bugs. All thought to be afflictions of previous generations, rendered harmless by better sanitation, better technology, better medical treatment. All alive and well here in America. Why?
There are many reasons for the resurgence of these diseases, but I believe one main factor has facilitated this deadly resurgence: open borders, which let in more than just illegal aliens. They also allow in the third-world diseases that some border-crossers carry. Close the borders, and you begin to control the diseases that piggyback in with the illegals.
This seems to be a microcosm of our national outlookour government is not making the hard decisions, its making the politically correct ones. And until we change that, wed all better get accustomed to bedbugs and the occasional outbreak of a long-forgotten heirloom disease.
Stoutcat