The Reverse New Deal - An all-out attack on the homeless (part 8 of 10): Crowded shelters and tuberculosis

(WPA poster, image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.)

(Workers in the Civil Works Administration are building a tuberculosis care facility in Salisbury, Maryland, circa 1933-34. Photo courtesy of the University of Maryland College Park Archives.)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "Among those affected [by tuberculosis], disproportionately higher rates of TB occur among high-risk populations, especially homeless persons." The CDC reports that drug use and HIV infection can make a person more susceptible to tuberculosis, as can "residence in crowded shelters." The CDC also notes that "Persons who are homeless often lack ready access to the medical care required to make an early diagnosis of TB" (see "Homelessness is a risk factor for TB").

(Also see, "Atlanta confronts tuberculosis outbreak in homeless shelters," Reuters, August 8, 2014, "Search on in Stockton for homeless man with tuberculosis," CBS, July 24, 2014, and "Indy officials battle TB in homeless population," The Indy Channel, September 18, 2014.)