Inside the walls of the Baltimore County Detention Center, dozens of people have experienced stomach pains or bloody stools, then tested positive for a bacteria called Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori for short).

The bacteria, which grows in the mucus layer that coats the stomach, is especially problematic in low- and middle-income countries. It’s also been increasingly linked to gastric cancer.

At least 26 people booked into the jail have contacted a civil rights law firm to report H. pylori diagnoses over recent months, the firm said — all of them with symptoms and confirmed tests for the bacteria.

County officials, however, say there is “no indication of an outbreak” at the jail.

One of those people is Travell Allen, who’s been incarcerated in Baltimore County for a year and a half.

In a recent interview with The Baltimore Banner, Allen said he still is experiencing symptoms, even though he tested positive for the bacteria more than a year ago.

Since then, he added, he has seen countless others get sick, estimating that, out of the 45 people on his tier, “about 30″ of them have H. pylori.

“They’re trying to keep it under wraps,” Allen said.

The jail’s medical provider also has pushed back, saying it has not noted any “unusual increase” in cases.

At first, people incarcerated at the jail thought the water was sickening them, Allen said. Now, they’re focused on the food: specifically, the cookies, which Allen suspects could be been contaminated by rodents.

“I grew up in the city,” Allen said. “I know what it looks like when a mouse nibbled at my food.”

The detainees’ concerns have long been dismissed by jail and medical staff, Allen added.

The spread of H. pylori in the detention center was first reported by the AFRO last December. In May, after hearing from people who said they were sickened at the jail, The Banner asked about the same issue.

Baltimore County spokesperson Erica Palmisano replied, referencing the AFRO article, which she said “has unfortunately proven to be misleading for residents.”

Palmisano contended in May that officials tested water from three areas of the facility and found no evidence of harmful bacteria. She added that H. pylori is “the most common bacterial infection in humans.”

“Although generally assumed to spread within families, H. pylori could theoretically spread in other crowded settings, such as a correctional facility,” Palmisano said. “However, given the common multi-year lag between infection and exhibiting symptoms, anyone experiencing symptoms may have been infected years before incarceration.”

But people have continued to report symptoms.

Dr. Kunchok Dorjee‚ an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said that numerous reports of infections and symptoms coming from one setting is a clear “red flag.”

“It’s something that needs to be looked into,” he said. “If a lot of people are having symptoms, that is something. Usually, you don’t get symptoms.”

Dorjee said that could be due to a high concentration of the bacteria or a particularly virulent strain of it.

‘Just treat everybody’

While most people haven’t heard of H. pylori, for Dorjee, it’s a specific focus of his research.

Though it is a pathogen, Dorjee said the bacteria is technically classified as a carcinogen, and has been shown to cause gastric cancer.

Despite the county’s insistence that it is known to spread among families, Dorjee said the bacteria is equally notorious for spreading in what he called “congregate settings” —schools, religious institutions, and, yes, jails, too.

Many people infected with the pathogen do not develop symptoms, nor do they develop cancer, Dorjee said, leading the infection to be routinely “downplayed.” International guidelines are unclear as to whether everybody in a high-risk setting should be tested and treated, Dorjee added.

But in Japan, health officials successfully brought down rates of gastric cancer by testing everyone, whether they had symptoms or not, and treating those infected with antibiotics.

“The literature and evidence is evolving so that, in settings with risk factors and where the rates are high, just treat everybody,” he said, adding that if he had the bacteria, he would want to be treated.

But county officials have insisted there’s no public health concern.

“There is no indication of an outbreak of H. pylori at BCDC,” Palmisano reiterated in an email Tuesday, following weeks of questioning by The Banner.

The Maryland Department of Health said in a statement on Tuesday that it was aware of the “situation,” which it said is being managed by the Baltimore County Department of Corrections.

After Dorjee questioned the testing methods used by county officials, The Banner requested a copy of the water testing, last done in February 2025.

The copy provided didn’t show any specific category for H. pylori, only E. coli and “total coliform.” Dorjee said that broad-scope bacteria testing is less likely to pick up the presence of H. plyori than specialized tests.

On Tuesday, Palmisano did not answer a question about whether the test specifically targeted H. pylori. In emails, she described it only as a “bacteria” test. She said the next test is scheduled for this week.

Ongoing concerns

The Banner first heard about health concerns at the Baltimore County Detention Center independently, from a family member of someone affected.

Months later, it heard about the issue again, this time from a civil rights law firm: Hansel Law PC.

Kristen Mack, associate attorney with the firm, said that in addition to the 26 people the firm has spoken with directly, “there are many others we have been told about.”

Out of their current caseload, five people reported testing positive within the last five months, Mack added.

Mack said the firm is investigating potential legal claims. She called the county’s response both “infuriating” and “typical.”

The civil rights attorney said the bacterial infections were first brought to the county’s attention last December, “and it is very apparent by the number of people that we are still receiving calls and letters from that nothing has actually been done to address the underlying cause of the problem to date.”

When first asked about the health concerns, the county responded that the infections were common and could not necessarily be attributed to the jail.

PrimeCare Medical, the jail’s private medical vendor, responded to the concerns in an email to The Banner. It was the first to say there is “no indication of an outbreak” at the detention center, a line that was later repeated by the county.

Kathryn Peters, PrimeCare’s general counsel, added that the jail’s medical staff has “not seen any unusual increase in cases, and infection rates are similar to what has been found in local studies.”

As for the source of the infections, Dorjee, the public health expert, called Allen’s theory about mouse-nibbled cookies “very interesting.” But he added that it could be “correlation.” The bacteria is frequently spread through water, food, personal hygiene and in kitchens.

“If there are mice, then it speaks to the hygiene of that environment,” Dorjee said.

Palmisano, the county spokesperson, said the detention has “regular pest-control servicing” and was last treated on August 27.