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US authorities announced on Friday that they had quarantined 5,200 migrants arrested, mainly on mumps, which would have resulted in an upsurge in cases of infection and the recent outbreak of contagious disease in Central America.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official told AFP that on June 13, nearly 4,300 inmates were confined to 39 mumps-exposed facilities, more than 800 to chickenpox and about 100 in both cases.
The first confirmed case of mumps among ICE detainees was reported on September 7, 2018 and since then it has risen to 334, the official said.
Nathalie Asher, ICE's Deputy Executive Director for Control and Disposal Operations, said that 75% of the current prison population came directly from the border, the others being held in the United States.
Given this and recent mumps outbreaks in Central America, "the overwhelming evidence shows that the major influx to our southwestern border is, at the very least, a significant contributor to these events." , she said.
"The impact is significant in the short and long term," she said, including longer detentions and delayed referrals.
The number of people in quarantine accounts for about one-tenth of the approximately 52,000 ICE detainees.
The agency administered measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines to asymptomatic inmates and quarantined them for 25 days from the last incubation period, he added.
READ ALSO: Measles outbreaks, New York bans religious immunization exemptions
Mumps is a contagious disease with symptoms such as swollen cheeks and a sore and swollen jaw, as well as fever, muscle aches and loss of appetite.
Most people recover completely in two weeks, but in rare cases, serious complications can occur.
The United States has had its own sporadic outbreaks of mumps in recent years. Scientists believe that this could be related to decreased immunity of the vaccine and the need for a booster shot at the age of 18 years.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of cases dropped considerably after the introduction of the two-dose MMR program in 1989, with only a few hundred cases reported each year for several years.
But they are up again since 2006, with more than 6,000 cases in 2006, 2016 and 2017.
1,002 cases were reported this year from January 1st to May 24th.
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Last updated: Saturday, June 15, 2019 KSA 11:55 AM – GMT 8:55 AM
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