Measles outbreak traced back to inmate at Arizona immigrant detention facility as confirmed cases continue to grow
- A measles outbreak in Arizona has been traced back to an immigrant inmate at Eloy Detention Center
- There are now 11 confirmed cases in Arizona and among those infected are four workers at the facility
- Authorities are now sharing the locations these four workers visited over the past few days to isolate possible new cases
- It was a worker at the facility who was already vaccinated that first caught the disease from the infected inmate
- A woman in Washington died from measles last spring, the first death from the disease in the US for 12 years
- There was an outbreak in 2014 that began with an infected child at Disneyland that led to 140 confirmed cases but no deaths
An outbreak of measles that began with an inmate at a federal detention center for immigrants in central Arizona has now grown to 11 confirmed cases.
Seven of those infected are inmates at the Eloy Detention Center, and four are workers at the facility, Pinal County Health Services spokesman Joe Pyritz said.
The privately-run facility has stopped accepting new detainees or releasing those currently held there.
State and county health officials said they’re working to stop new transmissions by isolating patients, vaccinating people detained in the privately-run facility and trying to identify people who were at locations the four infected workers visited.
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Health officials put out the first warning of the initial two cases last Thursday.
They have identified 14 locations in Pinal and Maricopa counties where the infected workers may have exposed other people, including stores, restaurants and a tribal casino. The locations can be found here.