This story was originally published by Borderless Magazine. Sign up for its newsletter to learn the latest about Chicago’s immigrant communities.
CHICAGO — Chicago officials have confirmed a “small number” of tuberculosis cases at city-run migrant shelters Wednesday afternoon — once again raising concerns about health conditions at temporary emergency shelter facilities.
The Chicago Department of Public Health confirmed tuberculosis cases among newly arrived migrants to ABC7 Chicago and The Chicago Sun-Times. The Chicago Department of Public Health did not disclose how many migrants tested positive for tuberculosis or identify which shelters were impacted.
At least five people were transported from the city’s largest migrant shelter in Pilsen to hospitals because of tuberculosis, according to one migrant who spoke to Borderless.
On X (formerly known as Twitter), Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) criticized Johnson’s administration, demanding vaccination records for migrants and including a photo that showed at least three migrants with tuberculosis.
The shelter — a former warehouse in a manufacturing district — is home to 1,334 migrants and also experienced a measles outbreak and the death of a child in the last few months.
In a statement, the Chicago Department of Public Health said they were “aware of a small number of cases of tuberculosis among new arrivals in a few different shelters over the course of the response,” said spokesperson Jacob Martin.
The Chicago Department of Public Health “continues to take cases very seriously in order to keep it contained,” Martin said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tuberculosis is caused by a bacteria that typically attacks the lungs but can also attack other parts of the body. Symptoms include chest pain, fatigue, chills or coughing up blood or phlegm.
Tuberculosis can spread quickly in congregate settings, such as homeless and emergency shelters. According to the CDC, tuberculosis is “preventable and treatable in most cases” and can spread when “people with active disease receive ineffective or incomplete treatment.”
If not treated, tuberculosis can be fatal.
The news comes as the city has struggled to contain other infectious diseases at city-run migrant shelters.
Last month, measles was first recorded at a shelter, and cases have increased in recent weeks. More than 56 cases have been reported across the city, with a majority associated with the Pilsen shelter, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.
The measles cases came after the death of 5-year-old Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero, who died of sepsis from Group A Strep in December. At the time of his death, he was also sick with Adenovirus, COVID-19 and the common cold.
Infectious diseases spread in the Halsted shelter for months with little medical attention or mitigation from the city, migrants told Borderless in an investigation published in December, before Martinez Rivero’s death.
Migrants spoke of chickenpox, the flu and other upper respiratory infections spreading, and another Borderless investigation found there were dozens of medical cases afflicting residents at the Halsted shelter, with at least 16 residents transported to the hospital in November.
Incident reports obtained by Borderless and filed by shelter staff revealed cases of ambulances being called for a four-year-old experiencing chest pain, fever and body aches; a resident with a facial droop; and a resident with a high fever who couldn’t feel their hands and feet.
After the first positive case of measles was discovered at the Pilsen migrant shelter, the Chicago Department of Public Health enforced a 10-day quarantine for shelter residents, which migrants have since described as confusing and startling.
Since mid-March, the Chicago Department of Public Health, with support from the CDC, has vaccinated more than 5,000 migrants with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine to contain the spread of the virus.
The city enforced a quarantining policy at the Halsted shelter requiring that young children stay out of school and childcare until at least 21 days after they are fully vaccinated against measles. The guidelines also stated that all shelter residents must receive a second dose of the MMR vaccine 28 days after their first shot if they were not previously vaccinated.