[Jenn218]

Okay....on our local news....this was just mentioned!!!!
It's not my town or nearest town, but it is CLOSE BY!!!

The medical community is warning the public: a leprosy outbreak in Springdale could blossom into an epidemic, if something isn't done soon.

Doctors say at least nine cases of leprosy have been confirmed in Springdale. Local doctors say they would be shocked by even one case of leprosy in their entire career, so they say something must be done soon, in order to stop leprosy's spread.

Springdale MD Jennifer Bingham says, "my initial response was: I am shocked. I am shocked we are seeing this. It's a true reason to be very worried."

Medical specialists say the Marshall Islands have the most cases of leprosy, in the world. And the city with the largest number of Marshallese people, outside the Marshall islands, is Springdale. And Bingham says, it makes sense, then, that leprosy is spreading to the city. "It's from the Marshall islands; that's why we're seeing it."

Bingham says she is all for Marshallese people entering the United States, after proper medical tests. But whether they're immigrants or not, she says people must stick to treatment, when infected. And she says, when she treats those from the Marshall Islands, this doesn't happen. "We're not getting the compliance that is absolutely essential to take care of this process."

Bingham says without cooperation, leprosy, which has no vaccine, and is transmitted through the air, will spread, and could easily become an epidemic. "People absolutely should be concerned. What I'm afraid of, is when people start thinking about it enough, it will already be out of control."

So now, Bingham, and others like Mayoral candidate Nancy Jenkins, say government help is the next step. Jenkins says she's angered the federal government has been so lax with border patrol. She says, "We've just opened the borders and said, 'Come on in! Bring your diseases! Bring 'em!' Why are we doing that? Those who have it need to be quarantined and treated, or sent back to their country."

Dr. Bingham is requesting the public take action, and write everyone from legislators, and presidential candidates, to Congress, and the Health Department. Shey says, "the only way to truly protect our community and our economic growth, is to think of this as a very important, panic-mode attempt to treat leprosy: before it gets out of hand."

Doctors say leprosy will appear as a discoloration, or nodules, on the skin, especially the fingers, toes, arms, and face. With treatment, it is curable, but it can take from six months, to two years, to completely disappear.

Springdale is also reporting over 100 cases of tuberculosis.

We want to know what you think about the threat of leprosy in our area.

This is from some of the "chat" on our news site

"In 1986, a compact was created between the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The compact granted the Marshall Islands - the site of numerous nuclear tests between 1947 and 1962 - its sovereignty and allowed the U.S. to continue maintaining a missile test site at the Kwajalein Atoll.

The compact also allows citizens of the Marshall Islands to live and work in the United States without being subject to U.S. immigration laws, but they are ineligible for Medicare, non-emergency Medicaid, Social Security, food stamps, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families and most other forms of federally-funded public assistance." and another from the comments section:

"Glad you brought it up, actually. Leprosy and tuberculosis are caused by the same genus, a bacillus named Mycobacterium, the former Mycobacterium leprae and the latter (big surprise) Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is exceedingly interesting that both of these are present in the same population. The organisms are difficult to treat with antibiotics because
they have a lipid (fatty) coating that prevents them from absorbing the antibiotics. Some of the ones that do work are the sulfones, which is pretty wicked stuff. Beats dying, I guess, but only barely."

YUCK.jpg ---- YUCK!!!

Okay, not to sound stupid or anything...but aren't we vaccinated for this stuff? (I hope)... and how do you get this stuff??