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Discussion » Questions » Health and Wellness » Sadly sometimes when you work with the homeless you are vulerable to getting hepatitis. Would you take a job that affected your health?

Sadly sometimes when you work with the homeless you are vulerable to getting hepatitis. Would you take a job that affected your health?

Posted - November 3, 2017

Responses


  • 22891
    i might take a job like that, been homeless myself, my immune system is so good i probably wouldnt catch it anyways
      November 3, 2017 11:43 AM MDT
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  • 32527
    Healthcare workers have to worry about that as well. I worked at nursing home years ago in housekeeping, I had to be vaccinated for Hepatitis to work there.
      November 3, 2017 1:18 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    Locally a cop contracted hepatitis because of that and now the police association (I think it's that organization) wants 1600 cops given a vaccination for it. That is something I never knew about. Thank you for your reply m2c and Happy Saturday to thee.
      November 4, 2017 1:48 AM MDT
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  • 117
    I wouldn't do that for any amount. 
      November 3, 2017 1:35 PM MDT
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  • 6988
    Been there -----  I once worked for a young lady who lost both parents in an accident. It was my job to 'fix up' rental properties that belonged to them. Some were located in rough areas. One day I was standing with 'The Boss' looking over one of those apartments. The Boss was holding an infant (her brothers' baby) when along came a homeless man that I knew had active tuberculosis. I quickly got The Boss and the baby to move around back because the T.B. guy liked to talk to anyone who would listen. As far as I know, neither of them got T.B. 
      November 3, 2017 1:49 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    Oh my gosh bh! Poor guy who had T.B. but I wonder how many others were exposed to him and contracted it? It's something I never thought about. Well, except after 9/11 I think lots of those who worked to clean up the site got lung diseases which shocked me. Thank you for your reply and Happy Saturday. It's a very good thing you were there and did what you did. :)
      November 4, 2017 1:50 AM MDT
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  • 2500

    Don't forget tuberculous, and AIDS. And any other infectious diseases. (Yet another good reason for that border wall, TB.) Health care professionals are at a much higher risk for contracting those diseases. This post was edited by my2cents at November 4, 2017 7:04 AM MDT
      November 3, 2017 2:27 PM MDT
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  • 16197
    You'd have to build the wall high enough to stop airplanes coming in from southeast Asia, the incidence of tuberculosis is higher there than in Mexico. Africa, too.
      November 3, 2017 3:26 PM MDT
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  • 2500

    The issue with the USA's southern border is the potential of uncontrolled access to the USA from every country in Central and South America, and by extension every other country in the world. (Some of those countries now have very lax "visitor" entry control.) Even just considering Central and South America there have been a number very violent crimes (rape, murder, armed robbery) perpetrated by non-Mexican illegals that entered the country by crossing that Mexican/US border undetected. It seems that while Mexico won't let those interlopers stay in Mexico (they actually enforce their immigration laws, with a vengeance) they don't much care if someone is just "passing through". Fortunately our neighbors to the north do have serious entry control very similar to that of the USA, and no other bordering countries to deal with. 

    And that entry control is the "wall" for air traffic (and for seafaring traffic) which makes your aircraft argument pure BS. Those aircraft that you refer to can't land just anywhere, gotta be an airport, and fly through "controlled" airspace with a flight plan, to get to one. Aircraft that have had an International stop must first land at an airport that has a Customs presence, which includes that Passport Control. And EVERYONE on the flight has to go through Passport Control, even the President. (Yes, they have Customs with Passport Control at Joint Base Andrews). Part of that includes verifying that the traveler has the proper immunizations if they're traveling to or from most countries (some, like Western European countries, are exempt from that requirement, but passport control WILL scan your VISA stamps in your passport to see if there's any stamps from non-exempt locations and there WILL be more questions if there are and the traveler lacks that current official immunization paperwork. And while the required vaccinations will vary by destination, all will require the useless TB vaccine (which does work great for leprosy) along with Hepatitis A and B.

    This post was edited by my2cents at November 3, 2017 5:40 PM MDT
      November 3, 2017 4:46 PM MDT
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  • 7280
    I would hope that all the cartels read your response and realize how smuggling people by air is simply not feasible and and just give up.

    Perhaps it is the continual success that they have by air that mitigates their fear of the difficulties that you assume they can't overcome. 
      November 3, 2017 4:52 PM MDT
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  • 2500

    Really? 

    So that's "legal" activity? Do you have any actual proof that such activities are occurring? I've not seen any news stories to that effect. Perhaps you're one of those smugglers that hasn't been caught?

    I'll clue you in on something though . . . Weight and balance are critical on any aircraft. It comes into play when determining center-of-gravity (if you don't get that right the aircraft is going to fall down and go BOOM when it tries to leave the ground). It also impacts the amount of fuel needed to make the flight (airlines only load enough fuel to make it to the destination with the required reserve).  I've even been asked to move to a different seat during take-off on a lightly loaded Boeing 777 to compensate for that CG issue. Part of an ATP-rated aircraft is instrumentation to determine the individual gear weight and the total aircraft weight when it's sitting on the ground. That equipment is sensitive enough to easily resolve the weight of a single person. The ground crew will have an exact weight of cargo/baggage that's been loaded onto the aircraft too, and how that weight is distributed. If ANYTHING about that is amiss the flight deck crew WILL look for the cause of the discrepancy as they don't want to be the first ones to the crash site. 

    So unless the ground crew and the flight crew are complicit and have been able to keep it a secret, including why the fuel costs are more for one particular aircraft on a given route (and we know what Franklin said about keeping secrets) I call BS on your claim.

    Oh, forgot to re-mention Customs for your benefit. If the flight in question had wheels on the ground outside of the US it's first stop upon landing is going to be Customs before any cargo/baggage is removed or any passengers "de-plane".  
    This post was edited by Salt and Red Pepper at November 4, 2017 12:10 AM MDT
      November 3, 2017 7:31 PM MDT
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  • 16197
    Somebody has to. My father was a paramedic for years, had to burn his uniform once (sprayed with blood, the patient was infected with golden staph). Nurses have been known to get needlestick injuries after tending AIDS patients.
      November 3, 2017 3:30 PM MDT
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  • 2500

    And that needle stick is a lot more common than one might think. And not just with nurses. Doctors and med students too are on that list. 

    My kids are tested regularly for HIV/AIDS (one did sustain a "stick" with a needle previously used on an HIV patient, fortunately no infection transfered); and also for TB as the vaccine is virtually useless. (the Tine test, not the more accurate chest X-Ray) With the one kid their boss was shocked at the negative TB result because of their medical service in South Africa; told that there was virtually no way for a medical professional to escape contracting it if they dealt with infectious diseases in the "third world", the boss's specialty.
      November 3, 2017 4:55 PM MDT
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  • 16197
    South Africa, or southern Africa? South Africa isn't particularly backward when it comes to disease, no more than most Western nations. Pretoria is no more dangerous than Los Angeles. Clean water, access to medical practitioners, adequate sanitation etc. Some other nations in southern Africa are less pleasant - Zimbabwe and the Congo are particularly nasty, and further north it gets worse - but RSA is middling decent.
      November 3, 2017 5:05 PM MDT
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  • 2500

    If someone was in South Africa would they not also be in southern Africa? By the way, the Congo (where AIDS originated) is in central Africa, not south Africa. You might want to consult a map. 

    And who said that South Africa was "backwards", although it's sliding that way rapidly. The first human heart transplant took place in Cape Town; Dr. Christian Barnard was the lead surgeon (he was rather "Boorish" (Afrikaans) as I remember, wonder if he operated in his bare feet?). South Africa even had its own nuclear weapons program at one time.

    And perhaps you missed the part where I mentioned that the kid was there working in medical services?  For the record they spent most of their time in Maseru and the surrounding area where AIDS is raging out of control (and guess what! The Kingdom of Lesotho is completely contained in South Africa; check a map, if you can find one). "Business" time was also spent in Port Elizabeth and that surrounding area. Recreational time was in Cape Town and that northern "suburb" of J-berg (Johannesburg to the non-natives) that your refer to, Pretoria. They also managed to visit Swaziland and Botswana during their two-year visit.

    And you're quite wrong about the safety of Pretoria (or any other city in South Africa) compared to any major US city. One does not have to travel very far from the city-proper to be immersed in that wrenched poverty that is still typical outside of the white enclaves of the J-burg area and Capetown. Muggings, street robberies, ect. are MUCH higher than in the US. Non-blacks do have it somewhat better for now but that's less than 20% of the population. And virtually all of the non-whites live in well-guarded, gated communities. But that's now shifting with the current government; I'm told that a growing number of them want to get the hell out. 
      November 3, 2017 5:50 PM MDT
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  • 16197
    The subject at hand is disease - not muggings or violence in general. In that, South Africa "proper" is no worse than much of the US. LA has its own health hazards - as Tom Lehrer put it, "if the hoods don't get you, the monoxide will".
    Lesotho is within South Africa but not part of it - like the Vatican, which is an independent nation entirely within the city of Rome but not part of it. You didn't mention that your offspring were working among the Swazi and Basuto people, as they aren't South African and proud of their independence. 
      November 3, 2017 7:26 PM MDT
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  • 2500

    You're the one that changed the subject from disease to focus on your simple "National Geographic" knowledge of south Africa (or South Africa), not me. (Have you ever actually been there?) I was only using South Africa as a reference to one of my kids having experience with infectious diseases there, which is on subject. 

    But now that you mention it there is indeed a strong connection between disease and criminal violence from a public health point of view. You can add lack of proper nutrition and lack of a good education to that list of disease risk factors too. Poor nutrition weakens the body to make it more susceptible to pathogens and also encourages that violence in an effort for the hungry to get food (my kid was mugged at gunpoint in Port Elizabeth). Or perhaps you think that POP (basically corn meal) provides for all the nutritional needs of most South Africans? (Where the hell is the protein?) The lack of an education lead to things like unsafe sex practices that actually promote the spread of diseases like hepatitis and AIDS.

    Which brings us to the LA comparison. Contrary to what some 89-year old left-wing moron musician allegedly said about "monoxide" (what kind of monoxide is he talking about anyway), I doubt that he has any actual knowledge of the facts. (Or perhaps you meant Jim Lehrer, formerly of PBS news, who is equally ignorant of those facts.) But from a disease point of view I can offer a few real facts to compare. South Africa, particular the black population, is at serious risk from diseases like measles, mumps, hepatitis A, hepatitis B (and probably hepatitis C), typhoid fever, tuberculosis; even though all but hepatitis C and most strains of TB are vaccine-preventable. Maybe it's that "outstanding" government-provided Universal Healthcare that most South Africans with dark skin have access to? (Whites still have their own, separate healthcare system, wouldn't dream of using the government system.) Outbreaks of those diseases in LA or any other US city . . not so much. In fact, those make the news Stateside when they do occur, like the current hepatitis outbreak in San Diego (carried in by some illegal crossing that Mexican/US border). 

    Then there's malaria, tick-bite fever, and schistosomiasis to contend with. Not going to find those Stateside either. 

    And let's not forget the STD's. AIDS infections are at around 19% in the general South African population, much higher among sex workers (that lack of education thing). While AIDS does occur in the States its transmission vector is now well known and it tends to be limited to a "certain" risk group that often look on contracting it as a badge of honor. And there's now a treatment regime to control it that's provided to all that contract it courtesy of the US government. In South Africa people suffer from it until they die. 

    So no, contrary to your allegation, South Africa is FAR more dangerous from a healthcare standpoint than is the States, even in the "big cities" there.

    By the way, I never said that Lesotho was governed by South Africa although it is most certainly wholly contained within South Africa's borders. That's why I referred to Lesotho by it's proper, legal name as the "Kingdom of Lesotho" (it does have a monarch between coups d'etat). Or perhaps you don't know that notation actually indicates it as an independent government/State? 

    And I didn't say that my progeny was working with the Swazi or the Basuto peoples. because they didn't (unless those people happened to be in South Africa or Lesoto at the time, a not uncommon occurrence I'm told). I only mentioned that they visited there; don't know where you got that wrong idea. Nor did I say those peoples were South African. But that "proud independence" of the various peoples runs more along tribal lines than political boundaries, something that you apparently are unaware of.   Perhaps your bad reading comprehension skills, or maybe "Coopers" goggles? 
    This post was edited by Salt and Red Pepper at November 4, 2017 12:29 AM MDT
      November 4, 2017 12:02 AM MDT
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  • 113301
    I remember that was the fear early on when AIDS was kinda new. I also know that the folks who worked at the 9/11 site to clean up contracted lung diseases. It's something I really haven't thought about until very recently...Locally a cop who works with the homeless contracted hepatitis and I guess it is communicable. There are 1600 of them who work with the homeless and so the city is looking to find 1600 vaccines for them. I guess they don't keep that much on hand. Thank you for your reply Sbf and Happy Saturday! :)
      November 4, 2017 1:54 AM MDT
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  • 7280
    As a practical matter, at my age and with my responsibilities, I would not volunteer for a person to person interface.
      November 3, 2017 4:53 PM MDT
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  • 113301
    Me too neither tom. It's something I would not have considered though I was aware of what happened to the folks who worked on the 9/11 site to clean it up. Some of them contracted lung diseases...including cancer I think. It's a dangerous world out there and yet we have people who knowingly risk their lives to help others. I guess they're human angels. A local cop who works with the homeless contracted hepatitis and now there are 1600 cops at risk so the city was looking for 1600 vaccines. They don't keep that much on hand. Thank you for your reply and Happy Saturday! :)
      November 4, 2017 1:57 AM MDT
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