Read the excerpt from "Ellis Island." "We lived there for three days—Mother and we five children, the youngest of whom was three years old,” recalled Angelo Pellegrini, whose family moved from Italy when he was 10. "Because of the rigorous physical examination that we had to submit to, particularly of the eyes, there was this terrible anxiety that one of us might be rejected. And if one of us was, what would the rest of the family do?”

Along with everyone else, Angelo’s family was examined for contagious diseases, such as chicken pox, measles, mumps, scarlet fever, and tuberculosis. If an illness could be treated, the sick were hospitalized on the island. About 2 percent were sent back to where they came from.

What was the immediate cause of the hospitalization of immigrants at Ellis Island?