TB Outbreak in Florida - Public Health Officials keep it quiet

[Witchyjoshy]

http://presstv.com/usdetail/250096.html

Although a CDC report went out to state health officials in April encouraging them to take concerted action, the warning went largely unnoticed and nothing has been done. The public did not even learn of the outbreak until June, after a man with an active case of TB was spotted in a Jacksonville soup kitchen.

...

According to the Post, the cover-up began as early as last February, “when Duval County Health Department officials felt so overwhelmed by the sudden spike in tuberculosis that they asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to become involved. Believing the outbreak affected only their underclass, the health officials made a conscious decision not to tell the public, repeating a decision they had made in 2008, when the same strain had appeared in an assisted living home for people with schizophrenia.”

...

Now it is estimated that as many as 3000 people may have been exposed to the strain over the past two years, mainly in Jacksonville’s homeless shelters, jails, and a mental health clinic. Only 253 of those have been found, of whom one-third have tested positive for TB exposure.
 
“The high number of deaths in this outbreak emphasizes the need for vigilant active case finding, improved education about TB, and ongoing screening at all sites with outbreak cases,” the CDC report urged.
 
Now the strain has not only spread beyond the underclass but has started appearing in other parts of the state, including Miami.

Emphasis mine.

Here's a big hearty WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING!? to the public health officials.

Seriously?  You thought it wasn't to worry because it "only affected the underclass"?

I don't normally wish this sort of thing on people, but I hope these public health officials get sick with TB.  Seriously.  A bit of appropriate karma.

[nickiknack]

Silly, don't you know poor people don't matter...and this story proves my theory, that the state of Florida is a fuckhole

[Smurfette Principle]

We've officially hit Charles Dickens levels of shitfuckery. That's it, everyone go home.

[Fpqxz]

We've officially hit Charles Dickens levels of shitfuckery. That's it, everyone go home.

"Are there no workhouses?  Are there no prisons?"

"Some would rather die than go to such places."

"Well perhaps they should, and cut down on the surplus population!"

(you should all know where these quotes come from)

[Sylvana]

I don't normally wish this sort of thing on people, but I hope these public health officials get sick with TB.  Seriously.  A bit of appropriate karma.

While I agree with the sentiment, it wouldn't really mean anything or even really affect them. TB tends to only be really harmful against people with compromised immune systems. The underclass generally fall into this category as they are poorly nourished in general and further tend not to get all the different nutrients they are supposed to have. Further, they live in dirtier environments which leads to more opportunistic infections from other diseases that weakens their immune system allowing TB to really get a grip on their system. Lastly, the poor generally cannot afford decent medical attention and as a result suffer the full brunt of the infection. TB generally wont affect well nourished healthy individuals regardless of exposure. Similarly a significant portion of all people who are infected become asymptomatic carriers, helping the infection to spread while not showing any signs of infection themselves.

It is however really disgusting that in a country like America, which does not have rampant epidemic levels of TB, those who are most vulnerable to the infection would be completely ignored and left to die. The poor in Africa receive better treatment than this.

[tempus]

Believing the outbreak affected only their underclass, the health officials made a conscious decision not to tell the public, repeating a decision they had made in 2008, when the same strain had appeared in an assisted living home for people with schizophrenia.”

...because really, who cares if some poor or homeless people die?

Our peerless feeders have done it--they've actually done it.  They've actually made the decision to let disease thin out the poor and homeless population rather than lift a finger to do something to stop it.  What people like Bryan Fischer and Rush Limbaugh have been quietly suggesting under their breaths for a few years now has finally been made real.  We've finally hit rock-bottom, battered our way through that, and now we're freefalling into the infinite abyss beneath it.

The fun's just getting started, folks. 

[nickiknack]

It is however really disgusting that in a country like America, which does not have rampant epidemic levels of TB, those who are most vulnerable to the infection would be completely ignored and left to die. The poor in Africa receive better treatment than this.

You forget to the right wing, the poor in Africa are the deserving poor, while the poor in America are just "lazy bums". You have no idea how many times you see apples & oranges compared by the right wing in this country.

[SpaceProg]

Revolution!











Too soon?

[gyeonghwa]

Guess why this happened? For austerity! Rick Scott shut down Florida's sole TB treatment center for austerity.

[Askold]

This is just evil.


Pure. Evil.

[Saturn500]

This is just evil.


Pure. Evil.

Snidely Whiplash levels of evil.

[armandtanzarian]

Are there any other sources to this?

[Damen]

Are there any other sources to this?

Yeah. There are a few others.

[armandtanzarian]

Ah thanks. Got a bit suspicious at PressTV there. Or maybe I've just been hanging out at r/conspiratard too much.

[Bezron]

We've officially hit Charles Dickens levels of shitfuckery. That's it, everyone go home.

"Are there no workhouses?  Are there no prisons?"

"Some would rather die than go to such places."

"Well perhaps they should, and cut down on the surplus population!"

(you should all know where these quotes come from)

From the RNC?