As if there aren’t enough concerns about a wide open southern border, Americans can now add the fear of contracting the deadly Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
With suspected terrorists and sex offenders being among the astonishing 8 million illegal immigrants who have entered the United States President Biden’s first three years in office, not to mention untold amounts of fentanyl as drug overdose deaths topped 100,000 in 2023, there is now a reported outbreak of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in Southern California.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a health advisory acknowledging that the infectious disease likely came from Mexico.
CDC issues HAN Health Advisory for providers & the public about an outbreak of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) among people in the U.S. with recent travel to or residence in the city of Tecate, state of Baja California, Mexico.
Read full alert: https://t.co/6edvtrTm4q pic.twitter.com/n7a1IA3iWn
— CDC (@CDCgov) December 8, 2023
There have been three deaths, according to Fox News, out of a total of five reported cases — four of the five were under the age of 18 and all of the affected people had recently traveled to or lived in Mexico, the network added.
“There have been reports of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) in people traveling to the United States from Tecate, in the state of Baja California, Mexico,” the CDC said online. “RMSF has been found in urban areas of several states of northern Mexico, including but not exclusive to Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Nuevo León.”
The bacteria is spread by ticks, which can be carried by dogs into homes.
“Symptoms of RMSF include fever, headache, and rash. The rash usually appears about 2–4 days after onset of symptoms, however, some patients never develop a rash,” the CDC website said. “The disease can rapidly progress and be deadly if not treated early with the recommended antibiotic. Children younger than 10 years old are five times more likely than adults to die from RMSF.”
Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, expressed the obvious concern even though the cases are currently isolated.
“What’s most interesting about these cases is that they are occurring in Mexico, and I do worry that with our porous borders, these ticks carrying disease could cross [into the U.S.] with migrants,” he said.
“I look for it whenever I am on the lookout for tick-borne diseases, but it is a different tick than Lyme,” Siegel added. “The dog tick is larger and lacks the characteristic white spot of deer ticks.”
Not everyone develops the classic “spotted” rash after contracting the disease and Siegel cautioned, “The problem is that symptoms are flu-like and somewhat generic, so it can be easily missed.”
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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