On July 14 at least 12 detainees tested positive for tuberculosis (TB), and dozens more were placed in quarantine, at the Denver Contract Detention Facility in suburban Aurora, Colorado. The outbreak is believed to have spread from a single active TB case, reported just three days earlier, at the private immigration detention center operated by Geo Group. Colorado state law requires local health officials to investigate all cases of TB, but the local Adams County Health Department has stated that officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have provided neither sufficient information nor access to the facility to properly conduct its investigation.
Last year detainees tested positive for TB at several immigration facilities, including the Anchorage Correctional Complex in Alaska, the Adelanto ICE Processing Center near Los Angeles, and the Eloy Detention Center outside of Phoenix, Arizona. Several suspected cases were reported at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, according to the American Prospect. These ICE centers are perfect breeding grounds for TB and similar diseases, with overcrowded conditions, poor sanitation, and the failure to follow even basic public health measures.
According to the World Health Organization, TB is the most deadly infectious disease in the world, killing 1.5 million people each year. TB is completely preventable and curable, but experts fear that with each outbreak, TB becomes more resistant to treatments.
