A spray fumigation team from the Ministry of Public Health (Spanish initials: MSP) rushed to the Temporary Detention Center for Foreigners (Spanish acronym: CATECI) in San Jose after a Cuban detainee was diagnosed with malaria earlier this week.

According to a news report filed by of daily tabloid Diario Extra, the Cuban woman diagnosed with malaria was taken to the CATECI, which is located in the populous suburbs of Hatillo, after being approached along with her husband by immigration police officers in Paso Canoas, the border crossing checkpoint between Costa Rica and Panama. The woman did not have legal status or identification, and thus she was transported to the CATECI to determine whether she qualifies for temporary residency, asylum or deportation.

When the Cuban woman was booked into custody at the CATECI, she was given a routine medical examination, which resulted in the detection of a minor urinary tract infection (UTI). Less than two weeks later, the detainee was rushed to the Solón Nuñez Public Clinic, also located in Hatillo, with chills, aches and a fever that ran as high as 39 Celsius (102.2 Fahrenheit).

Initially, the CATECI medical staff members were puzzled as to how the UTI could have degraded into a risky systemic infection; it turned out that the detainee was diagnosed with malaria, an infective disease caused by sporozoan parasites transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito.

Weeks ago, two cases of malaria at the CATECI were diagnosed: one in another Cuban and the other in a French detainee who had been previously traveling through the Caribbean. Although MSP officials have explained that all three cases have been identified as having originated outside of Costa Rica, the CATECI detainees were understandably surprised to see a spray fumigation team rush into the holding cells.

Costa Rica has often received accolades from the World Health Organization for being one of the few “Third World” nations able to eradicate malaria. Notwithstanding this recognition, fears of malaria are exacerbated by recent reports about the Zika virus along with dengue and chikungunya, which are carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito -different from the Anopheles.

Many of the detainees at the CATECI are from the United States. At this center, foreigners whose immigration status in Costa Rica is undetermined are held until a determination can be made. In some cases, the detainees may also have pending legal issues related to criminal charges.

Conditions at the CATECI have often been reported to be deplorable. In fact, the Constitutional Chamber has ordered the immediate improvement of conditions in lieu of closing down the center.