I had posted on this back in February of 2005.  I'm not sure how this couldn't be in the forefront of the minds of our mindless Senators but apparently it isn't.   Here's an excerpt from the 2005 posting :

Excerpt:
Contagious diseases are entering the United States because of immigrants, illegal aliens, refugees and travelers, and World Health Organization officials say the worst could be yet to come. In addition to a list of imported diseases that includes tuberculosis, sickle cell anemia, hepatitis B, measles and the potentially deadly parasitic disease Chagas, officials fear what could happen if the avian flu, which is flourishing among poultry in Southeast Asia, mutates so that it is capable of human-to-human transmission through casual contact.

And:
Concerns about imported disease prompted the State Department on Jan. 21 to temporarily suspend travel to this country by Hmong refugees from the Wat Tham Krabok camp in Thailand. The order came after federal health officials learned of at least 25 confirmed cases of TB among refugees from that camp who had resettled in California, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

And: 

 people from outside the United States accounted for 53.3 percent of all new tuberculosis cases in this country in 2003. That was up from fewer than 30 percent in 1993. In 2003, nearly 26 percent of foreign-born TB patients in the United States were from Mexico. Another third of the foreign-born cases were among those from the Philippines, Vietnam, India and China, the CDC report said.

And:
Mr. Tancredo’s worries were prompted, in part, by the rising migration of Hispanics to the United States and a potential increase in the number of cases of Chagas disease, which is spread by insect bites in South America and which can be spread through blood transfusions. It is curable in its early stages, but kills about a third of the people infected if it is not caught in time.
And:
According to a survey by the American Hospital Association (AHA), hospitals in 24 Southwest border counties in Arizona, California, Texas and New Mexico reported uncompensated care totaling nearly $832 million in 2000. A subsequent report prepared for the U.S.-Mexico Border Counties Coalition determined that about 25 percent of those nonreimbursed costs resulted from emergency medical treatment provided to undocumented immigrants.

people from outside the United States accounted for 53.3 percent of all new tuberculosis cases in this country in 2003. That was up from fewer than 30 percent in 1993. In 2003, nearly 26 percent of foreign-born TB patients in the United States were from Mexico. Another third of the foreign-born cases were among those from the Philippines, Vietnam, India and China, the CDC report said.

And:
Mr. Tancredo’s worries were prompted, in part, by the rising migration of Hispanics to the United States and a potential increase in the number of cases of Chagas disease, which is spread by insect bites in South America and which can be spread through blood transfusions. It is curable in its early stages, but kills about a third of the people infected if it is not caught in time.
And:
According to a survey by the American Hospital Association (AHA), hospitals in 24 Southwest border counties in Arizona, California, Texas and New Mexico reported uncompensated care totaling nearly $832 million in 2000. A subsequent report prepared for the U.S.-Mexico Border Counties Coalition determined that about 25 percent of those nonreimbursed costs resulted from emergency medical treatment provided to undocumented immigrants.

Here's another posting about Hepatitis B which emphasizes this lack of due diligence by our Immigration system when allowing refugees into the country -   Recent Hmong Refugee Murders Fiance (She won’t Marry Him ’cause he’s got Hepatitis B!)

Now Michelle Malkin has posted on an especially aggregious situation – HURRAY FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS WITH TB!

I have a feeling the Wall Street Journal is going to get a lot of feedback about this unbelievably muddled piece by a Greenwich, Conn., neurosurgeon who ultimately sings the praises of an illegal alien with tuberculosis.

A social worker tracked down the illegal alien's friends and family. They all tested positive for TB and, get this, were all working "behind the scenes" in local restaurants. How appetizing. No word on whether the illegal workers' employers or local public health officials were informed.

The neurosurgeon's patient ended up at Greenwich Hospital "because the one in the town where he'd settled, the neighboring and much less well-to-do Port Chester, had shut down after going bankrupt. That hospital had cared for a large number of patients just like him: no insurance, no English, no papers." Sound familiar?

After racking up $200,000 in hospital costs, the patient was released.

If nothing else this should scare the pants off of any Legislator or the Administration.  Sadly, it probably won't! 

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