Mumps spreads in migrant detention centers

Immigrant detention facilities have struggled with an outbreak of mumps affecting nearly 900 detainees in the past year. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday the highly contagious but usually nonfatal virus was present at 57 detention centers in 19 states. Eighty percent of those infected contracted the disease while in U.S. custody.

How is the U.S. government handling the outbreak? Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Bryan Cox said medical professionals screen all new detainees within a day of their arrival to prevent the spread of illness. Some of the detainees hail from countries where communicable diseases are more prevalent than in the United States. ICE has dispensed more than 25,000 doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.

Dig deeper: Read a June 2019 report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general about problematic conditions at some border facilities.