31. FIRST OF AL LET US SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT. LOU DOBBS IS THE ONE AND THE ONLY NEWSCASTER WHO HAS ACTUALLY PROVIDED TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC AS MUCH TRUTH ABOUT ILLEGALS AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE. UNLIKE THE COWARDLY WASHINGTON POLITICIANS WHO EITHER AVOID THE SUBJECT OR PUT THEIR OWN SPIN ON THE SUBJECT OR JUST OUTRIGHT LIE, REGARDLESS, WHEN IT COMES TO OUR PRESIDENT AND OR THE POLITICANS THE AMERICAN PUBLIC WIL NEVER RECEIVE THE REAL TRUTH. BASED UPON THE 12 TO 20 MILLION ILLEGAL CRIMINALS WHO HAVE CROSSED INTO OUR COUNTRY IT DOES NOT TAKE A GENIUS TO REALIZE THAT THE INCREASE IN MANY DISEASES IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO THOSE NUMBERS. LET'S FACE THE REAAL TRUTH, ILLEGALS, I.E. MEXICANS HAVE NEVER BEEN KNOWN TO STRIVE CLEANLINESS AS ONE OF THEIR PRIORITIES AND WITH THAT COMES ALL SORTS OF DISEASE'S, DISEASE'S WHICH THEY PASS ALONG TO AMERICANS AS THEY WALK BY ON THE STREET, IN THE STORE, HANGING AROUND THE 7-11 AT 6:00 A.M. WITH A BOTTLE OF "RED DOG." AND IF THEY ARE SO HEALTHY THEN WHY IS IT THAT OUR HOSPITALS ARE OVER-FLOWING WITH ILLEGALS (NOT COUNTING THE FREE MEDICAL CARE)AND SO MUCH SO THAT HOSPITALS ARE GOING BANKRUPT AND CLOSING (CALIF. 82 HOSPITALS CLOSED DUE TO THE AMOUNT OF ILLEGALS GETTING FREE HOSPITAL CARE) NOW! IF WE ARE TO BELIEVE THE LYING HISPANICS AND THE BOTOM FEEDER POLITICIANS THAT SHOVE DOWN OUR THROATS THAT THE ILLEGALS PAY THEIR WAY AND MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THEIR COMMUNITIES THEN WHY IS IT THAT SO MANY MEDICAL CVENTERS / HOSPITALS MUST CLOSE DUE TO NON-PAYMENT OF SERVICES BY ILLEGALS. TAKE A LOOK PEOPLE. WHO ARE YOU GOING TO BELIEVE? SOME LYING POLITICANS AND LYING HISPANIC GROUPS OR LOU DOBBS WHO HAS CONTINIOUSLY REPORTED THE TRUTH ABOUT A BROKEN IMMIGRATION SYSTEM AND THE PROVEN NEGATIVE IMPACT THAT ILEGALS HAVE HAD ON EVERY NEIGHBORHOOD, COMUNITY WHICH THEY REISDE IN. NOT EVEN MENTIONING THEIR FAILURE TO PAY AMERICAN TAXES. TO ILLEGALS, EVERYTHING IS FREE---GUESS AGAIN PAUNCHO AND WATCH YOUR IMMIGRATION BILL GO RIGHT DOWN THE TOILET---AS IT SHOULD.

Harry Edmiston at 3:31PM on May 30th 2007

32. NEW YORK When the rash on his chest first appeared, the 48-year-old office worker dismissed it as an allergic reaction to the shellfish. he had recently eaten. His doctor agreed and prescribed an ointment. But when the red bumps did not go away after several months and began to spread to his legs, arms and face, the man began to worry. He saw another doctor, who had no explanation for his condition, and finally another, who gave him a startling diagnosis: leprosy.

In the United States, leprosy is usually regarded as a plague of the past, a disease relegated to biblical times or, perhaps, to poor and distant countries. But, in fact, as cases of leprosy have been declining worldwide in recent years, the infection has actually been on the rise in the United States.

While there were some 900 recorded cases in the United States 40 years ago, today more than 7,000 people have leprosy, or Hansen’s disease, as it is now called. ‘‘And those are the ones we know about,’’ said Dr. William Levis, attending physician at Bellevue Hospital’s Hansen’s Disease Clinic. ‘‘There are probably many, many more.’’

The disease, even with its sanitized name, can still confer pariah status on the victim. Thus, there is no sign on the door announcing Bellevue’s clinic, even though it has almost 500 people receiving regular outpatient care and is one of only 11 federal Hansen’s disease centers. On a recent morning, a sampling of patients, all of them wishing to remain anonymous, said they were loath to tell others about their diagnoses.

A Queens man tells his friends that the bumpy patches on his arms are allergies, and a stylish college student has kept her infection secret from everyone but her grandmother. A 61-year-old Staten Island man who is being treated for a recurrence of leprosy he first contracted 40 years ago says he still has not told his wife of 33 years.

Most of those infected in the United States are immigrants from global leprosy hot spots, places like Brazil, India and the Caribbean. But, in the past six years, Levis and his colleagues have proved that a few of his patients — including a 73-year-old man from Queens who had never been out of the country and an elderly Jewish man from Westchester County — have contracted leprosy in the United States.

As a result, The disease is now officially endemic to the Northeastern United States for the first time ever. (Cases of leprosy transmission in the Southeast date as far back as the turn of the 19th century.) Leprosy experts think that even some foreign-born people with the infection may have acquired it in immigrant communities here.

Levis has tried to increase other physicians’ awareness of the disease through mailings, telephone calls and lectures. Still,
Leprosy's symptoms - bumpy rashes, skin indentations and loss of feeling in hands and feet - are often misdiagnosed for a variety of disorders, including bug bites and lupus.

Promptly recognized, the disease can be relatively easy to treat. With a standard regimen of multiple drugs, a vast majority of people with leprosy cease to be contagious within three months and become free of the bacteria that cause it in two to five years. Without treatment, the disease can be spread. The bacteria are thought to be passed through the respiratory droplets of an infected person. Untreated infections can also result in serious complications, including the loss of toes or limbs.

That is what happened to a 47-year-old father of four who was born in Guyana. He spent years in search of a doctor who could help him with his escalating skin problems, but dermatologists did not know what to make of the red and white spots on his face and body, first appearing in the early 1980s. When he arrived at a Brooklyn emergency room a few years later, no one guessed the cause of his severe foot infection, even when it resulted in the loss of one toe and part of another.

At the Hansen's disease centers, such serious foot problems are often prevented with special shoes and physical therapy. Patients are warned not to spend too much time on their feet, because their lack of sensitivity to the strains of standing and walking make them prone to sores and infections. But, with many cases going undiagnosed and untreated for years, a quarter of leprosy patients in the United States end up with disfigurement and disability that persist even after the bacteria that caused them are banished. The disease's permanent aftereffects include muscle atrophy, foot dragging, blindness, a contraction of the fingers that doctors call "claw hand," and, among men, infertility. Because of these problems and because of the taint of its victims, leprosy and its diagnosis can bring a mix of shock and relief.

"When he started explaining things to me, I thought he was crazy," the patient from Guyana said. "Leprosy? Hansen's disease? I said, no, not me." But after 15 years in which his doctor first cleared the leprosy-causing bacteria from his body and then tried to alleviate the numbness, limping and severe case of claw hand that it brought, the patient changed his mind about Levis. "He's the only one who was able to help me with all this stuff," the patient said, "so I guess he's not crazy after all."

Arlene at 3:50PM on May 30th 2007

33. After Fox News came on the air, I and the majority of tv viewers switched from CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and pathetic MSNBC to watch Fair and Balanced News. Thanks Mr Murdock! The Ratings prove I am correct in this view.

green at 4:09PM on May 30th 2007

34. Lou Dobbs is one of the very few who tells Americans the truth. How many places do you hear people talk about the North American Union, The Security and Prosperity Partnership America has signed with Mexico, the Trans Texas Corridor where good Texans are losing their lands to emminent domain,to build it, NAFTA and what a mess it has created, and what illegal aliens have done to this country and its citizens, and a host of other topics. So Ben Greenman are you an illegal alien supporter?

Arlene at 4:30PM on May 30th 2007

35. America's attitude towards journalism is the same as everything else: laziness. Lard asses are too busy shoving pork rinds in their fat mouths and ignoring facts presented by news outlets like AP. America prefers spin over [real] journalism and that's they way it is!

Robb at 4:46PM on May 30th 2007

36. Who cares as long as it keeps those idiots illegals from amnesty!

Ken Green at 6:07PM on May 30th 2007

37. I happened to have seen that show and Lou Dobbs showed a graph that had been shown to him by the leprosy treatment center. I saw the interview and heard what the doctor told Lou so don't print something just because the paper will lay here and let you print on it. I stand 100% behind Lou Dobb's comments and his news program.

Shirley durrant at 6:08PM on May 30th 2007

38. I have such utter contempt for CNN's Dobbs.
Whom I suspect is a self-hating creature.
And targets hardworking poor immigrants and literally tears them apart on a daily basis. Will
someone remind him that [his]immigrant ancestors arrived here, seeking similar opportunities for the American dream.
Therefore, this poster's summation of CNN's prime time [clown] Lou Dobbs:
That of a boorish RACIST, similar to Germany's NAZIS, and the diabolical "Joseph McCarthy." Whose [bogey man] LEGACY...left scores of innocent American citizens made their lives an unrelenting nightmare. Nice,very nice!

Leila Singh at 5:46PM on May 30th 2007

39. I would take Lou Dobbs word over ANYTHING by that liberal NY assw*pe rag...ANYTHING!!!

Dave at 5:51PM on May 30th 2007

40. If you do some research on leprosy, it turns out Lou Dobbs is correct. Check out http://diseases.emedtv.com/leprosy/leprosy----american-statistics.html. There are approx. 6500 new cases per year, and the majority are immigrants from countries where the disease is endemic such as Mexico, Central & South America. Especially bad off is Brazil. It is contagious, but doctors don't really know how it is spread. Respiratory droplets may be one way, however 50% of people who get leprosy have no confirmed contact with an infected person.

Lauren at 6:06PM on May 30th 2007

41. Who watches him anyway??? And most of us are smart enough that we know MOST not All newsmen put their spin on stories--in a way to suit their views--BUT he should have know better to back up his words--with some close figures--not way off the mark--very stupid !

haga at 6:07PM on May 30th 2007

42. I can hardly watch CNN because of the ongoing support for Dobbs. How could it be that so much bigotry is allowed to be aired night after night? CNN should be challenged, Lou Dobbs should be fired, and both should publicly apologize.

By default they are guilty of prejudicial journalism...is it okay because they are just vulnerable "Mexicans" that have no voice?

BTW, Lou you keep referring "them" (immigrants) as Mexicans and even when you try to modify this, you just justify your errors...sounding like a pattern is developing in how you get away with such bold distortions!

anniepodell at 6:17PM on May 30th 2007

43. Ben Greeman is going to tell me that Lou Dobbs is not telling the truth. I can't think for myself. Not me. I think he just showing his true self.

Douglas Tussing at 6:20PM on May 30th 2007

44. David Baer, has it exactly right. I have watched Lou Dobbs many times and I believe he speaks the truth. Unfortunately, a "slip of the tongue" is in front of a Republican, will be held against one forever, unless it one of those Lying Republicans, like Bush/Cheney. Go grab your crying towel, you illegal critics and stop your whining! Better than that, GO HOME!

Anna L. Richard at 7:18PM on Nov 7th 2007

45. Why don't you watch Lou Dobbs and than comment on his show. Unlike the rest of the media, I have yet to see him report on Paris Hilton, Anna Nichole,etc.
That is all the rest of the media is intersted in. Lou is standing up for the middle class and United States poor. Why don't all you people who support illigal immigration let a family move in with you,and you feed them, pay thier medical bills, etc.
Because right now the middle class citizens of the US is paying the price, and it is not going to be just leprosy that comes across that border. How about atibotic resistant TB, smallpox and heaven knows what else,including terriosts. I am not anti immigration, I just want it to be legal immigration, so we know who and what is coming into our country.

Sue Nelson at 7:20PM on May 30th 2007