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HEALTH:
Japan's Homeless Pose TB Threat
TOKYO , Feb 22 (IPS) ....
......Homeless people are an unobtrusive lot that live where possible-- in tents, cardboard shelters, railway stations, parks and public spaces and are embarrassment for the government.
Among them are to be found jobless construction labourers as well as former white collar workers -- equally rendered unemployed by tough times and left to fend for themselves against hunger and disease, including tuberculosis.
''Economic disparity has encouraged the spread of new infections among the disadvantaged such as the homeless community. As well, with increasing HIV rates among the young, we fear that TB will become a national issue again,'' explained Ikushi Onozaki, deputy director at the Research Institute of Tuberculosis (RIT)....more....