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Intestinal parasitic infections are among the most common infections found in newly arriving refugees to the United States. For well over a decade, refugees have been receiving pre-departure presumptive therapy for the more common and pathogenic species. The medications used have changed as we have learned more about the epidemiology of infections in newly arrived refugees. Currently, medications used for pre-departure prophylaxis are albendazole, ivermectin and praziquantel, depending on the region of provenance as well as pregnancy status in women. Upon arrival in the U.S., routine screening for parasitic intestinal infections is recommended. The chapter describes the overseas presumptive treatment as well as recommended domestic screening tests. Clinical descriptions of all pertinent parasites as well as their recommended treatment regimens are provided, followed by a discussion of the approach to eosinophilia in refugees. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is an excellent source for updated guidelines regarding parasite screening in refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a gratifying progressive decrease in contagious diseases … Tuberculosis, however, is an exception … [T]he provisional governor has recently appropriated the sum of $60,000 for the construction of the necessary machinery and equipment for the establishment of a free tuberculosis sanitarium for the poor of both sexes. Introduction With the decision by Surgeon General Robert Blue (plate 2.6) in 1912 to discontinue the overseas city tables, the world coverage of the Weekly Abstract came to an end. The weekly reports were, of course, to continue and flourish to this day as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, but the city data were restricted to the United States and its territories. Other international bodies such as the League of Nations Health Bureau and the World Health Organization were to progressively take on the global recording role. But, although the global monitoring provided by the Weekly Abstract ceased, the global scourges it described did not. Accordingly, in this chapter, we use other evidence to sketch the pattern of mortality attributable to epidemic diseases from the first decades of this century through to the present day. We first look at each of our six marker diseases on a disease-by-disease basis and reconstruct the principal trends for each (section 7.2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A definition of the term "Giardia lamblia" is presented. It refers to an ubiquitous, anaerobic flagellate that is responsible for acute and chronic diarrhea. The cysts of Giardia lamblia that are ingested orally can develop into trophozoites in the small intestine which attach to the mucosa. Giardiasis goes along with steatorroea and typical symptoms of malabsorption may emerge if the infection persists.