Health Care

Mumps confirmed in 7 detainees at ICE facility in Houston

Multiple cases of mumps have reportedly been confirmed at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Houston.

Houston’s KHOU11 reported Saturday that local health officials have found a total of seven cases, though only one person remains sick.

Officials told the TV station that all of the patients were detained during their infectious period, and that they have no evidence of the disease spreading outside the facility.

{mosads}“Chances are that some of the folks did become infected while they were there because it’s like any other detention facility, you have a large number of people in a small area,” Houston Public Health Authority David Persse said.

Persse noted that officials do not anticipate more cases from the outbreak, and that mumps is highly treatable.

Still, he urged people to get vaccinated against the disease if they were not as children, according to the station.

“You can either get the two vaccinations now as an adult or if you think you had one maybe, and you want to get another one, you can do that,” he said. “The vaccine is not expensive, and if you got vaccinated as a child and you got one again as an adult, it’s not going to hurt you.”