Trouble on the border: international health problems merge at the Rio Grande

"Mosquitoes don't have green cards", Laurance N. Nickey, MD, says. That is Dr Nickey's way of saying that disease and environmental pollutants do not recognize the political boundary that separates Texas from Mexico. Dr Nickey, director of the El Paso City-County Health District and chairman of Texas Medical Association's Council on Public Health, is a native and lifelong resident of the city. He is an expert on the public health problems that plague El Paso and the other cities along the international border, all of which are exacerbated by abject poverty and a burgeoning population. Dr Nickey works tirelessly to bring these problems to the attention of Texas physicians, legislators, and other opinion leaders because, as he says, "Out here, we feel like we're the forgotten Texans."