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More than 2,000 people under the custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement are quarantined due to an outbreak of mumps and other diseases.
The number of immigrants in detention with a contagious disease has risen sharply over the past year. In the past two years, the agency has not encountered any cases of mumps among its inmates.
"As of March 7, 2019, a total of 2,287 inmates were grouped together to be exposed to an inmate with a contagious disease," said ICE spokesman Brendan Raedy in a statement.
In the past 12 months, 51 ICE detention facilities, assigned to the presence of mumps, chickenpox and influenza, have been the subject of health surveys, according to Raedy.
236 cases of mumps were reported, with 16 other suspected cases during this period.
Mumps is a contagious virus that is usually spread by saliva and mucus. Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, loss of appetite and puffiness around the cheeks and jaw of the swollen salivary glands.
Last year, 423 people with influenza and 461 people with chickenpox were in custody in ICE, according to the agency.
But between January 2016 and February 2018, no mumps cases were reported, and only 73 cases of chickenpox and 34 cases of influenza.
"ICE takes the health, safety and well-being of people in care very seriously." ICE is committed to ensuring the well-being of all people in the care of the agency, including providing Access to necessary and appropriate medical care, "Raedy said in a statement.
Last week, Texas officials announced that nearly 200 people living in immigration detention centers throughout the state had contracted mumps since October.
The 186 patients were between the ages of 13 and 66, the Texas Department of Health said Tuesday.
"They should be isolated," said last week Dr. David Persse, of the Houston Public Health Authority.
Persse urged ICE to isolate people with mumps symptoms and to quarantine people who may have been infected.
"To a certain extent, this is predictable, because you bring a lot of people and shelter them in tight spaces for long periods of time," Persse said.
US officials have warned of the risk of disease for migrants arriving in the United States, which include more and more families and children.
"Migrants travel north from countries where poverty and disease are commonplace and where their health can be made worse by the physical cost of travel.Many people we meet may never have doctor, get vaccinated, or live in hygienic conditions, trains and buses can accelerate the spread of communicable diseases, "said Kevin McAleenan, US Customs and Border a testimony before the US Congress last week.
In December, the CBP ordered secondary medical examinations of all children after the death of two young Guatemalan children after being placed under the protection of the Border Protection.
CBP also sought additional medical support from the United States Coast Guard and the US Public Health Service Commission, as well as coordination with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. diseases to collect data on infectious diseases among migrants in detention.
Migrants who cross the border illegally are usually transferred from custody to border protection to custody at ICE for further processing or release.
ICE stated that all detainees benefited from comprehensive medical care, including access to nurses, doctors and 24-hour emergency care.
On Monday, it was unclear whether ICE was taking additional steps to address the disease issues at its facilities.
Reuters first reported on quarantine.
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