Frontera NorteSur July-August 2002

Prostate Cancer in Baja California

Prostate cancer is the fifth-leading cause of death in Baja California, according to an article in the Méxicali newspaper La Crónica. In the year 2000, 101 men lost their lives to the disease. In 2001, 76 Baja California men died from prostate cancer. 

To fight the disease, Méxicali's Asociación de Cáncer and a US lab, will offer 1,000 free prostate specific antigen (PSA) tests that screen urine for signs of prostate problems. 

Susana Rojas, president of the Asociación, said that her organization performs 3,500 PSA tests per year. Ten percent of the tests show elevated PSA levels in men and cancer is found in about 1% of those tested, she said. Rojas also stated that the free tests are a benefit to the community because otherwise they cost between 400 and 600 pesos (approximately US$42-63) each. 

Garage and Pirate Pharmacies in Tijuana

In other health-related news, Tijuana's Frontera newspaper (no relationship to FNS) reported that 60% of that city's 1,400 pharmacies are operating without proper legal controls. 

Ignacio Romo Calderón, president of the Pharmacy Association, complained to state health and business officials that it is too easy for people to open pharmacies in Tijuana. Because of the ease with which pharmacies can be founded, and because of a lack of proper monitoring, many of these businesses sell controlled substances and antibiotics without prescriptions. 

Romo called the pharmacies "pirate pharmacies" because their owners do not have any knowledge of pharmaceuticals. According to Romo, anyone with financial means can open a pharmacy and put it in a neighborhood where people go to use drugs.  Pharmacies that serve drug addicts are referred to as "garage pharmacies," said Romo.

Romo went on to say that the city has created "a Frankenstein that is strangling Tijuana and damaging its image." The US press has picked up on this and the fact that people sell drugs openly along the border, he said.

Sources: La Crónica (Méxicali), June 19, 2002. Frontera (Tijuana), June 19, 2002.

Border Asthma Study

A study of asthma in minors has been expanded from Laredo, Texas to include Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, according to an article in the Nuevo Laredo newspaper, El Mañana.

Gladys Cronfel-Keene, a Laredo doctor and the head of the Respira (Breathe) project, said that the number of asthma cases in Laredo have doubled over the past fifteen years and are a serious problem for thousands of families. Additionally, the number of minors that die every year from asthma is growing by 6%. Most of these deaths occur between the ages of 5 and 14.

Asthma is the most common chronic disease among children, says Cronfel-Keene. It is also the number one reason for missing school and not engaging in normal childhood activities.

Respira began its asthma study in February and hopes to finish it within the next few months. The study's results will be used to bolster requests for federal health funds.

To have their children checked for asthma and counted in the study, parents fill out a form at their child's school. They then get an appointment with a doctor.

Cronfel-Keene said that a 1997 study of asthma in Laredo found that 26% of 95 children had symptoms suggestive of the disease.

Source: El Mañana (Nuevo Laredo), May 20, 2002. Article by Francisco Díaz.