Thread: Another Cost of Illegals in Prison

Posted on Thu, Feb. 08, 2007
Another Fla. inmate tests positive for TBPENSACOLA - (AP) -- Some Escambia County inmates were being treated for tuberculosis after another inmate tested positive for the disease, a spokesman for the sheriff's office said.

Twenty-four inmates were tested in mid-January, and as many as eight tested positive, Sgt. Mike Ward said.

''Just because it's positive doesn't mean they have contracted tuberculosis,'' Ward said. ``It just means they have been exposed to TB.''

The Health Department was contacting an unknown amount of inmates who were exposed to the disease but released before it was discovered, Ward said.

Deputies guarding the inmates also were tested, but all results came back negative, Ward said. Inmates and deputies will be tested again, he said.

A nurse noticed an inmate was not looking well and he was tested for tuberculosis, which came back positive, Ward said.

Tuberculosis is caused by a bacteria spread in the air when a person with TB coughs, sneezes, spits or speaks. Tuberculosis is easily spread from person to person, but can almost always be cured with medicine.

Symptoms include abdominal pain, blurred vision, loss of appetite, dark urine, fever, nausea, rash or itching, tingling or burning feeling in hands and feet, vomiting and yellow color of the eyes or skin.

Tuberculosis cases are not uncommon at jails, Health Department Director Dr. John Lanza said.

''They typically discover situations quickly and take care of them,'' Lanza said

Many illegals cross the border with illnesses and expect America to pay their medical bills. this is a problem throughout america and not just in jails. Close the border and deport all illegals sick or not. Americans should not be paying the bill for illegals.

It not only costs us money to treat them but what about all those who they infect. TB is spread by coughing and prisoners are in close contact with others.