RangerRick
12-09-2007, 01:09 PM
The incidence of a Somali meat packer in Kansas who died from tuberculosis has officials calling for better health screening for the waves of unskilled immigrant workers flooding smaller American communities.
In the wake of the January death at a Tyson Foods plant in Emporia, Kan., public health officials found 160 cases of latent TB among the facility’s 500 Somali workers, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
Local officials say the case represents only a small part of the growing problem of foreign-born, unassimilated communities with high rates of communicable diseases such as TB and HIV. Many say they need help from Washington, which has been silent on the issue for too long.
“We have not really gotten Congress to engage, which I would like to see occur,” Peggy Mast, an 11-year Republican state representative from Kansas whose district includes Emporia, tells Newsmax. “I have talked with some of the offices and they think it is more of a state issue . . .”
The U.S. government has agreed to resettle more than 12,000 Somalis who fled their war-torn country in the past decade. Many have been living in refugee camps in Kenya prior to coming to America.
Mandatory health screenings are frequently put off for several months after the immigrants’ arrival. Those who blend into the secretive, tight-knit Somali community often do not resurface to be tested for communicable disease, officials complain.
www.newsmax.com
Ranger Rick
In the wake of the January death at a Tyson Foods plant in Emporia, Kan., public health officials found 160 cases of latent TB among the facility’s 500 Somali workers, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
Local officials say the case represents only a small part of the growing problem of foreign-born, unassimilated communities with high rates of communicable diseases such as TB and HIV. Many say they need help from Washington, which has been silent on the issue for too long.
“We have not really gotten Congress to engage, which I would like to see occur,” Peggy Mast, an 11-year Republican state representative from Kansas whose district includes Emporia, tells Newsmax. “I have talked with some of the offices and they think it is more of a state issue . . .”
The U.S. government has agreed to resettle more than 12,000 Somalis who fled their war-torn country in the past decade. Many have been living in refugee camps in Kenya prior to coming to America.
Mandatory health screenings are frequently put off for several months after the immigrants’ arrival. Those who blend into the secretive, tight-knit Somali community often do not resurface to be tested for communicable disease, officials complain.
www.newsmax.com
Ranger Rick