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A men's dormitory at the Kenosha County Detention Center is quarantined after a man detained by the immigration authorities has been diagnosed with mumps.
According to the sheriff's department in Kenosha, the man – who was not identified – was housed in a dormitory housing both immigration and customs detainees and detainees from the local prison.
The man was taken temporarily to another facility by ICE and started presenting symptoms at that time.
Upon his return to KCDC, 4777 88th Ave., the man was placed in a medical isolation ward. He has tested positive for mumps and is on medical treatment.
The federal government pays the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department for housing ICE inmates at KCDC.
Sgt. Christopher Hannah, of the sheriff's department, said the department had received notification of the detainee's diagnosis last week.
He said the inmates in the dormitory are being monitored by the Kenosha County Health Division and will not be allowed to leave their unit for any reason during the monitoring period.
To date, he added, no other inmate has shown signs of the disease.
The prison staff is also monitored, he said.
Hannah said that quarantine is a precautionary measure. He added that the KCDC followed the department's policy on the treatment of infectious diseases. The policy is based on the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control.
Free booster vaccines
Cindy Johnson, director of the Division of Health, said the division was working with the Kenosha Visiting Nurse Association, which provides health services in the prison and KCDC, to prevent the spread of the disease, including offering booster vaccines to staff and to people in the dormitory in contact with the patient.
"We monitor and provide support and information on prevention," she said, while monitoring the signs and symptoms of the disease in others.
At KCDC, about 60 to 70 people would have had contact with the patient.
Viral disease
Mumps is a viral disease transmitted through direct contact, and epidemics are more likely in people who are in close contact, especially those who share a common living space.
Symptoms include fever, body aches and swelling of the face. In some people, the swelling is so severe that it is difficult to eat.
Although most people with the disease recover completely, this disease sometimes causes serious complications, especially in adults.
Possible complications include meningitis, hearing loss and, in men, swelling of the testicles.
Most Americans are vaccinated against the disease and since 1967, the number of cases has decreased each year in the United States by 99%, according to the CDC.
Vaccinated persons may still contract the disease but will have less severe symptoms.
25 days isolation
Men housed in the dormitory will remain isolated for at least 25 days, while waiting for the incubation period of the exposed people, said Hannah.
He added that court appearances – and any other reasons to leave prison – would be postponed to a later date during the solitary confinement period.
Hannah said that he did not know if the inmates were being vaccinated by the Ministry of Health.
"The Sheriff's Department is working with the Kenosha County Health Division to facilitate testing procedures to ensure the safety of all department staff and people in custody," the department said.
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