"Infections in homeless people can lead to community infections and are associated with malnutrition, long periods of homelessness and high use of medical services"

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Journalist Kate Kelland is trying to raise some awareness here in order to motivate action - in this case I believe it is for increased access/funding for healthcare for those experiencing homelessness - and for that, I'm exceptionally grateful. I come to this conclusion, since it's not overtly stated, by a quote from Senior Research Fellow Seena Fazel that Kelland included in her piece:

 "Because ... numbers of homeless people are high in some countries, improvements in care could have pronounced effects on public health."

But here's the rub; I can just about guarantee you that, given a large segment of the general public's ignorance about homelessness, there will be some who will use this information to further stigmatize and justify additional ostracism and marginalization of those experiencing homelessness.  Worse, there may be at least some percentage of folks out there who hear this and in their stunted brain, justify violence against those who must endure homelessness, since in their warped thinking, ridding the community of disease harbingers has to  be a good thing, yes?


The last possibility here is particularly disturbing, since we know that violence against those experiencing homelessness has increased dramatically over the past decade. As someone who works regularly to increase awareness of the causes of homelessness on a national level, I know firsthand the level of ignorance that pervades our communities, and it is apparent even within some of the agencies charged with providing direct services to those experiencing homelessness.   

To be sure, efforts abound to ensure that training and knowledge are at the fingertips of those who request it, but stigmatization and erroneous assumptions continue to permeate all areas of our communities when it comes to homelessness.  One need only review the comments left by people around issues related to homelessness in just about any newspaper to understand what I'm talking about, and as a typical example, here is a very recent comment left by someone related to a newspaper article on a Commission charged with implementing the 10-year plan in Nashville, TN:

Jughead on 8/16/12 at 8:19

Let's call them by the correct name: BUMS.
The vast majority are bums by their own acts. Then, liberal do-gooders tell me I have a responsibility to fund their addictions?
Not a chance in hell. I'll fund their departure from Nashville...one way tickets to California.

Clearly, the commentator's "penname" is appropriate, and his gross ignorance, especially given today's new faces of homelessness, is almost unforgivable, but the truth is, there are a large number of "Jugheads" out there, and some of them are not afraid to cross the line and resort to violence.  

My fear with Kelland's piece is that this will provide the perfect incentive and justification to some of the more disturbed Jugheads out there, who will feel a sense of self-righteous indignation that cloaks their scapegoating, and will motivate them into a twisted form of vigilantism, for the good of the community, you understand. 

I do hope I'm wrong, and I like to think the best of human nature.  But it's hard to remain optimistic when year after year, violence against the less fortunate and the homeless seems to increase.  Unfortunately, what never does seem to increase, and in fact has decreased recently, is the funding that provides assistance - including healthcare - to those who need it most and who are most vulnerable in our communities. The Affordable Care Act is one bright spot in an otherwise dismal landscape, and I hope we're able to begin providing the care folks on the street need quickly.  For many, it'll be too little, too late, but for some, it will mean the difference between life and death, both from an illness, and an idiot.

Infections among homeless could fuel wider epidemics: study

August 19, 2012|By Kate Kelland | Reuters

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(Eliseo Fernandez, Reuters)LONDON (Reuters) - Homeless people across the world have dramatically higher rates of infection with tuberculosis (TB), HIV and hepatitis C and could fuel community epidemics that cost governments dear, a study showed on Monday.
With an estimated 650,000 homeless people in the United States and around 380,000 in Britain, experts said high levels of infection would not only cause yet more poverty and distress for those without homes, but could also become a wider problem. "Infections in homeless people can lead to community infections and are associated with malnutrition, long periods of homelessness and high use of medical services," said Seena Fazel, a senior research fellow in clinical science at the University of Oxford who led the study.
Fazel and his team analyzed more than 40 research papers on levels of HIV, hepatitis C and TB among homeless people from 1984 to 2012.
They found that in the United States, for example, TB rates were at least 46 times greater in the homeless than in the general population, and the prevalence of hepatitis C viral infection was more than four times higher.
In Britain, TB rates were about 34 times higher in homeless people than in the general population, and the prevalence of hepatitis C viral infection was nearly 50 times higher.
For HIV, rates of infection were typically between 1 and 20 times higher in homeless people in the United States than the general population, but no studies were found for Britain.
Fazel said his findings suggested the best way to fight back against these and other infectious diseases was to focus on the homeless as one of the highest risk groups.
"Because ... numbers of homeless people are high in some countries, improvements in care could have pronounced effects on public health," he said.
Fazel, whose study was published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, said similar patterns were found in most other countries where data were available. Other countries covered in the study included France, India, Sweden, Ireland and Brazil.
According to United Nations estimates, about 100 million people worldwide are homeless. It is well known that rates of illness and premature death are particularly high in this group.
TB kills an estimated 1.4 million people annually, and about 9 million people are newly infected each year around the world. Because it is a bacterial infection that spreads through the air in droplets when infected people cough and sneeze, it can develop into community outbreaks.
Anyone with active TB can easily infect another 10 to 15 people a year, and because successful treatment for TB requires months of antibiotics, patient care can be expensive.
In the United States, nearly 60,000 new cases of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS are reported nationally every year.
The researchers said this research focused on HIV, Hepatitis C and TB because their initial work suggested these were the most heavily studied infections among homeless populations.
But they noted the homeless also have high rates of other infectious diseases, including hepatitis A and B, diphtheria, foot problems and skin infections.
(Editing by Andrew Heavens)