9 parasitic diseases afflict 10 million Americans, predominantly minorities living in the Mississippi Delta and the American South, in disadvantaged urban areas, along the U.S.-Mexican border and in disadvantaged white populations in the Appalachia. The diseases include Ascariasis, the most common human worm infection; Toxocariasis, a roundworm transmitted in dog feces; Strongyloidiasis, another roundworm; Cysticercosis, pork tapeworm; Giardiasis, or beaver fever that causes diarrhea; Cytomegalovirus, which causes deafness and mental retardation in infants; Chagas disease and Dengue fever. These are not killer diseases but instead cause people and children to be anemic, weak and unproductive. With global climate change and increased flooding many of these diseases will be promoted. Yet the U.S. tolerates these diseases of our poor while spending $1 billion per year preparing for outbreaks of diseases the have not occurred, including smallpox, anthrax and avian influenza.
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I've never heard of cytomegalovirus.... What is the vector?
it's a herpes type virus transmitted person-to-person contact through body fluids but usually transmitted vertically from mother to infant...almost 30,000 newborns are affected every year in the U.S. yet we haven't even heard of it!
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