Thousands of illegal aliens flooding across America’s southern border, part of what President Trump repeatedly has described as a national emergency, have been segregated now because they’ve been exposed to either mumps, chicken pox or both.

And a physicians’ organization has doubled down on its warning that some of those newcomers are coming from regions of the world that are being ravaged by Ebola, an almost-always-fatal disease for which the incubation period can be weeks.

It was CNN that revealed that 5,200 adult immigrants are currently in quarantine in dozens of detention centers nationwide for exposure to contagious diseases.

“Of the 5,200 detainees in quarantine across those centers, around 4,200 are for exposure to mumps. Around 800 were exposed to chicken pox and 100 have been exposed to both,” the report said.

And, “Just because individuals are quarantined doesn’t mean they have the mumps, but they’ve at least been exposed to it. From September 2018 to June 13, 297 people in ICE custody had confirmed cases of mumps, proven by blood test,” the report said.

There also have been problems with measles and flu among the population of illegal migrants who have broken American laws to enter the nation, and now are being provided services at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.

“I think there is heightened interest in this situation because it’s the mumps, which is a new occurrence in custody, but preventing the spread of communicable disease in ICE custody is something we have demonstrated success doing,” Nathalie Asher, an Immigrant and Customs Enforcement official, told CNN.

She said such situations do mean there is a significant impact, which will include a longer detention time for those infected.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Physicians for Civil Defense issued a statement that while public health officials “are preoccupied” with measles, there are hundreds of the newcomers arriving from the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo, “where thousands have Ebola.”

That potential impact is huge, since, “in the entire U.S., there are about half a dozen hospital beds equipped for safe treatment of Ebola victims,” the group said.

“We were very fortunate to escape a disastrous outbreak here during the epidemic in West Africa. There are two new vaccines that generate antibodies, but we don’t know how protective they would be – if you are one of the few who could get a dose.”

Further, HIV and drug-resistant tuberculosis both are prevalent in Africa.

The statement, from Jane Orient, M.D., said officials and news outlets all should be demanding to know whether entrants from Congo are screened for Ebola, and what precautions are being taken to protect workers.

“Double gloving? Masks and eye protection? Incineration of medical waste? How long are entrants quarantined? The incubation period can be longer than 21 days. What if there is a needle-stick injury? If a case of Ebola is suspected, what is being done to protect other migrants?” her statement continued.

Also, questions should be answered with regard to how entrants are being tested for tuberculosis, and who is in charge of the medical screening.

“Dispersing even a few persons with Ebola or drug-resistant TB across the U.S. would threaten thousands and overwhelm our public health resources and hospitals. It would be recklessly irresponsible to avoid confronting this problem at the source,” her statement said.

Orient had just days earlier raised concerns about the possibility of Ebola infections.

She told WND in an interview that immigration officers need to know about those coming into the country whether they have communicable diseases, where they’ve been and who they’ve encountered, where they’re going and who they plan to encounter, and if they are getting – or should be getting – medical treatment for various exposures.

“All of these things we really don’t know,” she said. “Deliberately.”

“The problem is bringing in people who may have a disease you don’t know about. You don’t know where they’ve been, or where they’re going, who they’ve been in contact with,” she said.

Article printed from WND: http://www.wnd.com

URL to article: http://www.wnd.com/2019/06/5200-quarantined-by-ice-for-exposure-to-mumps-chicken-pox/