Ebola Flew to Dallas as Budgets to Fight Disease Waned
Cuts to public health services made during the recession are now having negative consequences.
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The loss of tens of thousands of public-health jobs and smaller research budgets for infectious disease is leaving the U.S. susceptible to an emerging tide of deadly and dangerous pathogens.
That’s the message from public-health advocates pointing to the Ebola case reported in Dallas last month, even as other threats have arisen. Florida faces a mosquito-borne virus that targets seniors with pain that can last for years, while children in Oklahoma and California face a common infection that leaves some patients paralyzed. Even bubonic plague has made a re-appearance, sparking frightening headlines.