Health Journal Online

Tag: Tuberculosis

  • Man Held by ICE Was Jailed in Alaska for Weeks. Now He’s in the Hospital Battling Tuberculosis

    Man Held by ICE Was Jailed in Alaska for Weeks. Now He’s in the Hospital Battling Tuberculosis

    A Peruvian man has been hospitalized for tuberculosis after being detained in a detention center run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to a lawyer representing the man.

    The man was held at an Alaska jail alongside 40 other individuals after he was flown to Anchorage from a Tacoma regional immigration detention center. This transportation came from a deal between ICE and the state in an attempt to tackle overcrowding, as reported by Anchorage Daily News.

    The man, who was seeking asylum, remained at Cook Inlet Pretrial Facility from June 8 to June 30, according to his attorney Sean Quirk. He was then flown back to the ICE detention facility in Tacoma, Washington.

    Quirk was reportedly unable to get in contact with his client for days, calling the facilities in which he was allegedly being detained repeatedly. He only learned of his client’s hospitalization when he failed to appear for a virtual hearing.

    The lawyer attempted to speak to his client over the phone, calling numerous Tacoma-area hospitals in order to get in contact with him. At one point, a nurse attempted to hand a phone to his client while Quirk was on the call, but an ICE agent allegedly intervened and prevented the man from taking the call.

    Quirk was eventually able to get in contact with his client. How the man contracted tuberculosis or where he contracted it from is still unknown.

    State corrections officials have stated that the detainees were properly screened for potential diseases before their detention, and have further claimed that no larger outbreak has occurred within the facility.

    Furthermore, as of Wednesday afternoon, there have been “no reported cases of (tuberculosis) in any facilities,” a spokesperson from the Alaska Department of Corrections told the outlet.

    Originally published on Latin Times

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  • Kansas Tuberculosis Outbreak That Killed Two, Sickened Dozens, Among Largest In U.S. History

    Kansas Tuberculosis Outbreak That Killed Two, Sickened Dozens, Among Largest In U.S. History

    A tuberculosis outbreak that has gripped Kansas for nearly a year, claiming two lives and infecting dozens, is among one of the largest in U.S. history.

    As of Jan. 24, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 67 confirmed cases of active tuberculosis, along with 79 latent infections. However, health officials confirm there is no threat to the general public.

    “To date, most TB cases have been in Wyandotte County, with very low risk to the general public, including the surrounding counties,” the health officials from Kansas state said in a statement.

    Tuberculosis (TB) is a highly infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It primarily affects the lungs and spreads through the air when a symptomatic infected person talks, coughs, or sings. TB can take two forms: active and latent. In its active stage, it triggers a persistent cough, lasting for three weeks or longer, coughing up blood or phlegm, along with chest pain, fatigue, chills, night sweats, fever, and weight loss. In its latent stage, the bacteria remain dormant, causing no symptoms, and there is no risk of transmission. However, if not treated, the latent stage can progress into active TB.

    Both inactive tuberculosis (latent TB infection) and active TB disease are treatable, but they require different approaches. Treatment involves a combination of antibiotics taken over several months, with regimens lasting three, four, six, or even nine months, depending on the severity of the infection and the specific treatment plan.

    In 2023, TB claimed an estimated 1.25 million lives and has regained its title as the world’s deadliest infection caused by a single pathogen. As per the CDC data, there were a total of 8,700 cases of tuberculosis in the U.S. last year.

    Kansas health officials have described the recent tuberculosis outbreak reported since January 2024 as the largest documented in U.S. history since the CDC began tracking cases in the 1950s. However, the CDC has disputed that claim, pointing to at least two larger outbreaks in recent years. One of the most severe occurred between 2015 and 2017 in Georgia homeless shelters, where the disease spread rapidly, leading to more than 170 active TB cases and over 400 latent infections. Another major outbreak in 2021 was linked to contaminated tissue used in bone transplants, infecting 113 patients across the country.

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