In this day and age, we import fruits and vegetables, toys, oil, clothes and pretty much everything in between. All this may seem good and all, except for one minor detail: we are importing another good. It is one that doesn’t seem to be desired in the same demand, but still lurks in the shadows. Yes, all the while that we are importing commercially viable goods, we are also paving the way for the transmission of disease.
With more of this thing called globalization, we are endangering the lives of countless others through the spread of infectious diseases, notably TB. In fact, according to the U.S. News and World Report Vol. 142, No. 22, “In a world I nwhich one tird of the population is infected, the occasional traveler who goes to places steeped in TB brings it home. And in a country dependent upon the talent and energy of people migrating from high-Tb areas, the microbe has become a regular import. Moreover, the tubercle bacillus, a survivor that mutates around the drugs designed to wipe it out, is a formidable foe for a public-health system that has just shown itself to be inconsistent, disconnected, and underfunded.” Wow. Stepping back, it appears that we have a long way towards improvement. In this current society, we try to be all noble, helping others avoid political persecution, delivering military and financial aid and even providing jobs. Yet, there is always a dark side. In this case, it appears that we are in fact endangering the lives of others through TB.