Frontera NorteSur June  2003

Mexican Government Warns its Border States about US Diseases as Anthrax and West Nile Appear in Mexico

Border news coverage typically portrays Mexico as a threat to the US: undocumented migrants from the south are crossing the US border, Mexican tuberculosis threatens human and cattle populations in the US, illegal drugs from around the globe are transported to the US from the Mexican border states, etc. Breaking with this typical depiction of the relationship between the US and Mexico was an article about infectious diseases that could spread from the US to Mexico's border states. The article ran in both the June 18, 2003 Mexicali newspaper La Crónica and the Hermosillo newspaper El Imparcial. 

The article examined a warning issued by Mexican federal health officials to state officials about the possible future spread of diseases from the US to Mexican border states. The five diseases mentioned in the article are: monkeypox, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), hantavirus, West Nile virus and cutaneous anthrax.

Dr. Francisco Javier Muro Dávila, the Secretary of Health for the state of Sonora, said that his department was put on alert by Mexican federal authorities and was given data about diseases which could come to Mexico from the US. A meeting for state officials to learn about possible incoming diseases is planned for the near future he said. 

    Monkeypox

Monkeypox, which was reported in the US last week, has so far been found only in more northern states like Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. Transmission was through the trade in pet prairie dogs. The effects of the disease are similar to those of small pox but are milder.  Information on the disease, its effects and transmission can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/monkeypox/factsheet2.htm.

    Hantavirus

Hantavirus strikes most often in the southwest US but has been identified in over half of US states. The disease is spread by rodents. It has a wide range of symptoms but is lethal due to its effects on breathing (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta/hps/noframes/symptoms.htm).

    SARS

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) begins with fever and other possible symptoms. Some people that get sick from the disease die from respiratory problems. As of June 17, 2003, there have been 408 reported cases of SARS in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/factsheet.htm). 

    West Nile virus

Spread to humans by mosquitoes, West Nile virus infection often has no symptoms or just mild symptoms. However, severe cases can lead to permanent impairment or death (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/qa/overview.htm). 

In 2002, most US states had cases of humans infected by West Nile virus, including the US border states of California and Texas. New Mexico had verified animal, avian and mosquito infections during 2002. Arizona had no reported cases of the virus in any population. 

    West Nile in Mexico

Not mentioned in the Mexican press were findings by international researchers that signs of West Nile virus (WNV) are present in horse populations in the border state of Coahuila (which shares a border with Texas) and the far southeast state of Yucatán. 

The journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, a peer-reviewed publication that tracks and analyzes disease trends, has published--online--two studies that found signs of the presence of the disease in Coahuila and Yucatán horse populations. The articles can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol9no7/03-0166.htm and http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol9no7/03-0167.htm or in Spanish at http://eie.unizar.es/V9/n6/IT1.htm and http://eie.unizar.es/V9/n6/IT2.htm.

One of the article's conclusions was that "WNV will probably become endemic in Mexico, which is a major concern to public health authorities in the Americas." 

    Cutaneous anthrax

Perhaps somewhat startling after the anthrax attacks against the US in 2001, was the article's mention of four reported cases of cutaneous anthrax in the central Pacific coast state of Michoacán. 

An article in the June 15, 2003 El Imparcial examined the Michoacán cases which then had three infected individuals in private and public hospitals. Another person was recuperating at home. 

Although Michoacán officials had not detected the cause of the disease as of June 15, the four men had worked together to skin a dead sheep they found. Medical officials believe that the disease spread from the sheeps. 

Currently, medical officials are searching for other people that may have been in contact with the same animal. 

Sources: La Crónica, June 18, 2003, article by Maytte Ochoa. 
El Imparcial, June 15, 2003, Notimex. 

Cancer Cases and Deaths Draw Attention to Closed Chihuahua Uranium Mine

A photo shows a group of six smiling miners from Chihuahua's Uramex uranium mine when they worked there before its closure in the 1980s. The picture's caption states that three of the men are now dead from cancer and that some of the others are ill with the disease. Now, after six children have been diagnosed with cancer in the nearby city of Aldama, the state is looking into links between the mines and cancer. 

Aldama and the mine are located about 28 kilometers (approximately 18 miles) from Chihuahua City which is in the center of state. 

Rogelio Levario was the doctor at the Uramex mine until a year before it was closed. "I asked that they send me to safety training for radioactive industries because I felt that I did not have sufficient knowledge in the field but the they never paid attention to me," Levario told the Ciudad Juárez newspaper El Diario. 

Levario also stated that safety measures at the mine were not very clear, "Those that worked in digging, upon leaving the mine, would go to the cafeteria in the same clothes. Some would bring the uranium rocks--green and yellow--directly to the dormitories and would play with them there. There was never any division between work areas, everyone had total freedom to go anywhere in the camp." Other workers would sit and smoke on piles of ore while others would eat there lunch on the rocks. 

Levario wondered about the adequacy of the miners' uniforms as well, "Overalls and boots, and if they were lucky, gloves, but never masks. And in these same clothes the men walked everywhere."

Regarding a visit by Mexico's National Institute for Nuclear Investigation (Instituto Nacional de
Investigaciones Nucleares, ININ) to the mine, Levario remembers that radiation levels were found to be high in a smoking area designated for workers. After the ININ visit, Levario had the radioactive levels of a group of workers analyzed and the results were found to be rather elevated, he said. 

A former worker at the plant, José Inés Fierro Grajeda told El Diario that he remembers that sometimes after a day's work the workers' hands would glow from so much contact with the uranium ore. 

Journalist from El Diario that recently toured the mine and camp wrote that it looked the place was deserted rapidly without preparation. Books and accounting sheets were left on shelves and bags full of uranium ore can still be found there. 

Results from the study of the Aldama childhood cancer cases will be released once the study has been completed. Besides radiation, health officials are also looking at fertilizers and pesticides as other possible causes. 

For a previous Frontera NorteSur article about the Aldama mines and attempts to store radioactive waste there go to: http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/dec00/envi.html

Source: El Diario, May 7, 2003.

Boy's Death Between Hospitals Draws Attention to Farm Workers' Hard Lives near Mexicali

The May 19, 2003 death of a one-year old boy led the Mexicali newspaper La Crónica to investigate working, living and salary conditions at an agricultural company in Mexico's Mexicali Valley. 

    A child's death

On Monday, May 19, Anastasio Domingo Martínez and Magdalena López Antonio, an indigenous couple from Oaxaca, took their one-year old son Alex to the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) clinic in Ciudad Morelos because he had been vomiting and suffering from diarrhea for over 24 hours and had begun to go pale. Once at the IMSS, the couple was told their insurance paperwork was not in order and their son was denied access to treatment. A person at the clinic told them that they should go to Cd. Morelos' health center which they did. 

At the city health center, the doctor on duty gave the child fluids and bathed him to lower his body temperature. The doctor suggested that the child be taken to Mexicali's Hospital General but noted that the family would have to hitch a ride there or go in their own car since neither the fire department nor the city ambulance was available to make the transfer. 

In a borrowed car, the couple from Oaxaca headed into Mexicali to look for a hospital in a city they did not know. As the car grew warmer in the intense heat that is typical in late May, Alex began breathing quickly and started opening and closing his eyes, his mother said. Before they could get to the Hospital General the boy was dead. 

The child's death was officially listed as a heart attack caused by serious dehydration. 

The child was buried the next day and the company for which the family worked, Cardoso, bought the boy's coffin. However, the burial, food, candles, and burial clothes were paid for by the family. Currently, the boy's family is waiting for financial support from the state's human rights office so that the mother and father can return to Oaxaca. 

Investigation

After La Crónica published an article looking at how the agricultural firm exploited the workers from Oaxaca and forced them to live in inhuman conditions, the Baja California Secretariat of Labor decided to investigate the case. 

Rafael Ayala López, head of the Secretariat, said he sent inspectors to the company but they could not find any of its workers, " . . . we can't have an inspector in each company  . . . " he explained. 

What the Secretariat did discover, in looking through records, was that the company, "Cardoso," had not paid a house-building tax (Infonavit) and had failed to meet one another financial obligation as well. 

However, La Crónica refuted the notion that Cardoso workers could not be found. When journalists from the newspaper wanted to contact workers from the company, they simply went into nearby communities and asked around for them. Soon they had found Alex's mother and five other workers that gave their names and spoke of the abuses they allegedly experience in working for Cardoso. 

All the workers told La Crónica that 30 pesos (approximately US$3) per week are deducted from their paychecks for IMSS health insurance. Despite this, they complain that they have never receive proof of insurance. They also said that they have not been allowed to register their children for health insurance. 

On a typical day, the workers say that they and their children work twelve hours in the fields. Although they would like for the kids to go to school they have not done so. 

The workers also stated that they do not know their rights as employees and that they live in fear of the company. 

Other than a social worker that came out to visit after Alex's death--and ended up getting medical attention for a sick five-month old boy in the community--the workers say they never see government officials in the area checking up on them. 

Source: La Crónica, May 22, 2003. Article by Beatriz Limón. 

Tijuana Lacks Psychiatric Hospital

Tijuana has at least 14,000 residents that suffer from mental illness but no hospital dedicated exclusively to treating them, according to Tijuana psychiatrists and the Red Internacional de Colaboración en las Ciencias del Comportamiento (International Network for Collaboration in the Behavioral Sciences). 

Hermilo Fernández, director of Tijuana's Casa de Protección de la Salud Mental and a supporter of the effort to get a state-sponsored psychiatric hospital in the city, said that the World Health Organization estimates that 1% of the residents of large urban areas suffer from mental illness. Given Tijuana's population of 1.4 million in the 2000 Mexican census, Fernández arrives at a figure of 14,000 which he calls conservative. 

Without a hospital, the majority of Tijuana's mentally ill live at home, where some get treatment, while others are on the street, Fernández said. Other people receive treatment outside of Tijuana but Fernández noted that there is no data on the numbers involved. 

Although the city lacks a full-scale hospital, it did open a psychiatric treatment center in 1989. Last year it assisted 5,858 people on an outpatient basis and attended to 1,338 psychiatric emergencies. Schizophrenia was the most commonly seen ailment with 1,096 cases last year of which 629 resulted in hospitalization. 

Source: Frontera (Tijuana), May 27, 2003. Article by Omar Millán. 

Alcohol Contributes to Deaths, Accidents and Fights in Tijuana

Alcohol is a factor in approximately 100 emergency room deaths per month in Tijuana. In that city, the Red Cross reports that its emergency rooms treat around 250 people per month for injuries and illnesses related to the consumption of alcoholic beverages. According to the Red Cross, alcohol is a contributing factor in car accidents, fights, stabbings, falls and illnesses.  

In January 2003, Tijuana emergency rooms treated 262 people that smelled of alcohol when they arrived for treatment. Of these individuals, 63 were wounded in fights, 33 in car accidents and 65 were admitted for excessive alcohol consumption. Causes for the other admissions were not given. Nearly 40% of those brought in for treatment die from their injuries and/or illnesses, according to the Red Cross. 

Mexico's statistical institute, Inegi, found in its study "The Youth" that Baja California has the highest youth mortality rates. The top two causes are accidents and violence and alcohol frequently plays a role in both of these. 

José Rubio Soto, who worked on health issues for the city of Tijuana in the years 1999 and 2000, did a study which found that 18.6% of males and 5.1% of females involved in the city's 9,500 annual accidents smelled of alcohol or were drunk at the time of their accident. 

Source: Frontera (Tijuana), April 16, 2003. Article by Omar Millán González. 

Pesticide Misuse Closes Cd. Juárez Elementary School

In past years, Ciudad Juárez health officials have sought to end illegal sales of unlabeled pesticides known as "polvo de avión" (airplane dust). Now, the application of pesticides may become a city health issue. 

On April 5, 2003, a woman sprayed a pesticide in her home and in a surrounding field to kill cockroaches. Fumes from the application were so strong that children at a nearby elementary school showed signs of chemical poisoning. The school was closed and 150 students were evacuated by teachers who drove them home in their own cars. Some students had to be examined by the Red Cross and the city fire department. 

Health officials have yet to determine what pesticide was sprayed in and around the affected house because it has been vacated by its occupants. 

El Diario reported that the smell of chemicals around the house was still very strong. 

Health officials want to learn what pesticide was used in the accident so that they and the victims' families can know what secondary effects to expect. 

For a previous FNS article on "polvo de avión" go to: http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/may01/hlth.html

Source: El Diario, April 6, 2003. Article by Luz del Carmen Sosa. 

Some Juárez Streets Open Only to Bikes on Sunday

For the past two months, Ciudad Juárez has closed 18.5 miles of streets in its city center every Sunday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Organizers of the Ciclovías program estimate that 8,000 people on bikes are using the vehicle-free streets every hour that the program is in operation. 

Talking about the importance of the program, Ciclovías director Lucy Barriga said "We need to create spaces for the community. We work a lot and go home by ourselves. Our children spend too much time watching television alone. People need to reacquaint themselves with their city and each other." 

Previously, Barriga directed the Bogotá, Colombia program on which Ciclovías is based. Now eight-years old, the Bogotá program has one million participants every Sunday. Other nations such as Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Peru have also copied the bike program. 

While participants and the mayor of Cd. Juárez back the program, 250 businesses along the Ciclovías route have complained that their Sunday business has fallen by 95% when their streets are closed. If the program is not moved to less busy streets, owners have threatened to stop paying business fees to the city government. 

Ciclovías director Barriga is not worried about area businesses, however. She claims that they will adapt to the situation and noted that new businesses were created in Bogotá with the creation of the program. In that city 1,500 street vendors began serving the needs of cyclists. 

Source: El Paso Times, June 14, 2003. Article by Louie Gilot.