In this article review Alan Blinder discusses an outbreak of tuberculosis in rural Alabama. In a small town about 80 miles west of Montgomery, Marion, Alabama there has been a case of tuberculosis so severe that an incidence rate of about 100 times greater than the state’s and worse than in many developing countries. City officials and medical experts believe that the outbreak could be traced back to generations of very limited health care, poverty and mistrust. Problems that Blinder states are common problems across the rural south. The rural areas face a big problem with the support of local medical care and when things like this happen, their health system is unprepared. Marion features a town of fewer than 3,600 residents and the reported cases of …show more content…
Nobody wants their whole town knowing they have a life-threatening disease. More suggestions to why this outbreak is happening is that the history of medicine in Alabama are hampering efforts to contain the tuberculosis. The local residents believe that health authorities did not move aggressively enough to contain the disease before it rose into outbreak. The TB case has reinforced Marion’s divide of race and class in the town. This is mostly because of the fact of a plan to compensate people if they willingly submit to blood screenings. Money from a federal grant is allowing for health officials to offer residents with $20 for the initial TB testing, $20 for a follow-up visit, and also, another $20 for getting a chest x-ray. This plan is being put in place so that residents of Marion will come and get tested for TB. There is no way to contain an outbreak if every case is not found and treated effectively. Additionally, anyone who is found to be infected can receive $100 for completing their treatment. There were residents that acknowledged that they only agreed to the testing because of the financial