The United States.- An outbreak of mumps hits 57 immigrant detention centers in 19 states since Sept. The virus sickened 898 adult immigrants and 33 detention center employees, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in their report Thursday.
New cases continue as migrants are detained or transferred between facilities, the report says. As of last week, there were outbreaks at 15 facilities in seven states. In response to the report, Immigration And Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokeswoman Bryan Cox said that medical professionals at the detainment centers examine all inmates within 24 hours of their arrival to make sure the disease is not Disseminates. Cox said some detainees come from countries where communicable diseases are less controlled than in the United States and bring with them the risks of infection.
The CDC report said more than 80% of patients were exposed to the virus while in detention. Mumps cause sleachial inflammation, fever, headaches and, in severe cases, hearing loss and meningitis. In the United States, vaccination has drastically reduced the number of mumps cases. Only a few hundred cases are reported each year, with occasional outbreaks at universities or other places where people are in close contact. In outbreaks at arrest centers, 13 people were hospitalized, the CDC said.
Illustrative. Source: Pixabay
A large portion of the cases have occurred in Texas. The Texas Department of Health issued an alert in December, followed in January by health departments in six other states, prompting what the CDC calls “a coordinated national response to the outbreak.” ICE has given more than 25,000 doses of the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine at affected facilities. The CDC did not identify the centers involved, but said 34 of them are operated by private companies. A Nashville-based immigration attorney, R. Andrew Free, says the problem “has all the hallmarks of a public health crisis. ICE has shown that it is unable to ensure the health and safety of people in its facilities.”
