I don’t know why this alert showed up in my inbox yesterday—it is from the CDC in 2012. But, what the heck, just for a little change of pace before we get back to more news about the “refugee” invasion on the southern border.
From the CDC (and especially for anyone volunteering to care for newly arrived refugees):
Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is a disease caused by central nervous system infection by the larval stage of the pork tapeworm, Taenia solium. In developing countries, NCC is a leading cause of adult-onset epilepsy. Case reports of NCC are increasing among refugees resettled to the United States and other nations, but the underlying prevalence among refugee groups is unknown. We tested stored serum samples from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Migrant Serum Bank for antibodies against T. solium cysts by using the enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot.
Seroprevalence was high among all 4 populations tested: refugees from Burma (23.2%), Lao People’s Democratic Republic (18.3%), Bhutan (22.8%), and Burundi (25.8%). Clinicians caring for refugee populations should suspect NCC in patients with seizure, chronic headache, or unexplained neurologic manifestations. Improved understanding of the prevalence of epilepsy and other associated diseases among refugees could guide recommendations for their evaluation and treatment before, during, and after resettlement.
[….]
The widespread exposure among these groups has clinical and public health implications because these populations are resettling to the United States, where the infection is not endemic and where many clinical providers are not familiar with the disease manifestations, diagnosis, or treatment.
It is a good thing we have Obamacare to pay for all this medical treatment required by refugees carrying parasites!
See our Health Issues category for more stories like this one! Be sure to see: diseases coming in with the “children.”