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According to the deputy director of Epidemiology of the Secretary of Health of Chihuahua, Dr. Gumaro Barrios Gallegos, since October, 149 migrants have been detected with chickenpox at the Leona Vicario Integrating Center for Migrants while waiting to reach the United States.

This pustulovesicular rash represents a generalized herpes outbreak due to the Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) pathogen/CDC

12 of the cases are currently active, he notes.

Of the 149 people who have been detected with chickenpox, 137 are already healthy and 12 are currently isolated so that they do not circulate in other shelters and further spread the disease, which has been mainly detected in the Leona Vicario and in some cases in the municipal gym “Kiki” Romero, since it works as a filter shelter for those who have just arrived in the city.

Eighty percent of the infections involve children under 14 from Honduras, many of whom apparently never received a vaccine against the varicella-zoster virus that causes chickenpox, Dr. Gallegos said.

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The Leona Vicario Integrating Center for Migrants has internal isolation tents, also called “pavilions”, in which suspect and confirmed infectious diseases, such as chickenpox, are kept separate.