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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Thursday, April 3, 2003
Machuca to be deployed to Middle East
Specialist Steve R. Machuca, who has been serving in the U.S. Army, First
Cavalry Division, for the past four years, will be deployed to the Middle
East in May.
Specialist Machuca is a mechanic in the Army and is currently stationed
in Fort Hood.
He is the son of Timio and Juana Machuca of Pecos.
Machuca has been stationed in Fort Hood in 2000; Korea in 2001 and has
been stationed in Fort Hood since April 2002.
Binational project offers hope for controlling tuberculosis
It's a new effort health experts hope will stem the tide of tuberculosis
(TB), especially drug-resistant TB.
The Texas Department of Health (TDH), the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), the Pan American Health Organization and Prevention
and (CDC), the Pan American Health Organization and the U.S. Mexico
Border Health Commission are working together on a two-year pilot project
to track and treat migrants with TB as they travel from Mexico to Texas
and on north and back again. "That's great for migrants, but why should
anyone else be interested in this project?" Asked Charles Wallace, director
of the state health department's tuberculosis elimination division. "Because
TB is airborne and anyone can get it. It is simply a matter of being in
the wrong place at the wrong time. TB is an equal-opportunity disease."
From 1990 to 2002, there were 26,844 TB cases reported in Texas. In
2002, 1,550 cases were reported an almost 6 percent drop from the number
reported in 2001. "While we're glad that rates have declined, this is not
a disease that's going away easily or quickly. We can't be complacent in
our efforts because rates of TB tend to fluctuate, "Wallace said. "I call
this the roller-coaster effect."
It's a young, mobile population that most often suffers from TB. "There
is a lot of back-and-forth travel between Texas and Mexico and between
California and Texas. People have jobs on one side of the border and live
on the other side. They have family on both sides of the border. It's that
mobility that has us concerned," explained Wallace. "TB is spread through
the air. With so many people who have the disease traveling through Mexico,
Texas and around the United States, the opportunity for spreading this disease
increases."
The problem with a transitory population is that people start treatment
and don't complete it. This gives the bacteria the opportunity to strengthen
and come back in a more virulent form that can become drug resistant, making
it more expensive and time consuming to cure.
That's where the pilot project comes in. Anyone with the disease who
travels between Texas and Mexico can be registered in the TB binational
project's data base and will receive a card with an identification number.
"This card will serve as a tool for referring patients between both countries
to ensure completion of therapy," Wallace said. "When patients leave the
country for the United States or Mexico, they will be instructed where they
obtain health care to complete their TB treatment, no matter where they
are living at the time. The goal is to make sure that those who have TB
receive adequate and complete treatment."
The pilot will be held in two border areas: El Paso, Texas, Las Cruces,
New Mexico/Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, and San Diego, California/ Tijuana,
Baja California. Four interior Mexican states are also pilot sites: Michoacan,
Jalisco, Veracruz and Oaxaca.
"We're expecting 10,000 cards to be distributed in the next two years
on both sides of the border," said Wallace.
After the two years is completed, CDC will evaluate the project. If the
project is successful, it will be continued and expanded all along the Texas-Mexico
border. "This will make a big difference in how well we track and control
TB in this country," Wallace said. "We hope this new effort will bring us
closer to a day when fewer and fewer people suffer from tuberculosis."
Garage sale planned
A garage sale will be held from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m., Saturday, April
5, at 1638 Cowan Street.
The event is sponsored by the North Temple Baptist Church Acteens group.
Proceeds will benefit the Annie Armstrong Easter offering.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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