A migrant with a large group illegally crossing the border in New Mexico was found to be infected with flesh-eating bacteria.
(Video via USA Today)
The unidentified Central American who was detained with a group of more than 300 illegal immigrants near Antelope Wells, told federal agents he was suffering from what he thought was a rash, Border Patrol spokesman Carlos Antunez told the Associated Press.
The migrant was transported to a hospital where he was diagnosed with necrotizing fascitis, a condition that Antunez said would require extensive medical treatment.
According to Associated Press:
Flesh-eating bacteria are a rare condition called necrotizing fasciitis that spreads quickly and can be fatal. The bacteria usually gets into the body through a minor cut or scrape and can cause a serious infection that can destroy muscle, skin and other tissue.
Bizpac Review reports,
Although the infection rarely spreads to other people, the affected area sometimes has to be treated through surgery.
The man was processed at the Border Patrol’s Lordsburg Station, near the Antelope Wells Port of Entry – the same location where last month a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl was taken to the hospital after crossing the border illegally with her father. She later died at an El Paso hospital.
South of Lordsburg Station, another group of 300 mostly Central American migrants were stopped by Border Patrol agents Thursday and included some with illnesses or injuries that necessitated treatment.
“We’re seeing for example, chicken pox, different strands of influenza, syphilis, scabies. This is something that we see with the illegal aliens and we have to provide treatment for them,” Antunez said.
The remote unsecured desert region has seen 26 groups of more than 100 migrants apprehended by agents since October, officials said. Nearly 9,000 migrants, mostly families and unaccompanied children, have crossed the border in 53 groups of 100 or more, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials reported, according to Breitbart News.
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