Risk of Deadly Drug-Resistant TB Exposure Grows Along US-Mexico Border Betsy McKay - WSJ.com
go to original March 9, 2013

TIJUANA - He was like many people in their early 20s, at least the type with spiky black hair and two lip rings. Four years ago, while living in this teeming border city, Gonzalo Garcia says he spent free time in the U.S., to shop, meet girls, and "hang out." He had no idea he was developing a potentially deadly form of tuberculosis.

Exactly how long he had it will never be known. He says he started losing weight and becoming tired and tried to get help. But it took a year before a doctor finally figured out what was wrong: He had a drug-resistant strain of TB. "Many doctors said I was just fine," said Mr. Garcia, sitting in the clinic where he was cured.

To this day, it isn't clear if he infected anyone on either side of the border while he was contagious. But his tale illustrates a nagging concern among health officials who say the 2,000-mile border between the U.S. and Mexico could become a breeding ground for one of the hardest forms of TB to treat. Already, both California and Texas, as well as some states on the Mexico side of the border, have unusually high rates of drug-resistant TB.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal

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