Infectious woman wanted by police for refusing tuberculosis treatment seen going to casino
An infectious woman wanted by police for refusing to isolate or be treated for tuberculosis (TB) has been caught breaking the rules — boarding a public bus and loitering at a casino.
The patient from Tacoma, Washington state, has refused to self-isolate or take medication since being diagnosed with the contagious bacterial infection more than a year ago.
The woman, who has been deemed a risk to public safety by a judge and will be quarantined and medicated against her will, was spotted last month by an officer who watched as her home was cordoned off at a casino.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, TB is the leading infectious disease killer in the world, killing 1.5 million each year. However, the vast majority of cases can be easily treated with medication.
Laws allowing the courts to order someone to stay home or isolate themselves from others after being deemed a public health risk are on the books in 38 US states, including the three most populous in California, Texas and New York (red)
The number of deaths from tuberculosis has fallen significantly over the past three decades. They’re down from about 1,800 in 1993 to about 600 in 2020, the CDC reports
On March 2, a warrant was issued for her arrest and involuntary detention at the Pierce County Jail.
According to an April 3 official report, seen by The Tacoma News TribuneChief of Corrections Patricia Jackson said she: “Ordered an officer to observe the defendant to determine her habits in order to carry out the warrant in a safe manner.”
The filing stated that the officer “saw a person they believed to be the respondent, leaving her residence, boarding a city bus and arriving at a local casino.”
If caught, she will be held in the Pierce County Jail.
It added that in the following days, “the officer continued surveillance only to discover that the respondent was not at home.”
The woman was diagnosed with tuberculosis in January 2022, after reportedly being a passenger in a car accident and going to the emergency room with chest pains.
X-rays showed progressing tuberculosis. She had also tested positive for Covid.
She received her first isolation order in mid-January and more than 20 orders since then, until the contempt order and arrest warrant last month.
According to the March warrant, she was to be held at the Pierce County Jail to be tested and treated for TB until medical tests show she “no longer poses a threat to public health, safety and well-being.”
Tuberculosis is an airborne disease that usually affects the lungs and spreads through prolonged exposure to others.
BCG vaccination gives up to 80 percent protection in babies and young children, but the injection is less effective against TB in the lungs in adults.
The BCG vaccine is not widely used in America and does not prevent infection.
Symptoms depend on where in the body the TB bacteria grows, but include chest pain, no appetite, chills, and fever.
It is spread when someone infected with TB of the lungs coughs, speaks or sings, but you would have to be in close contact for several hours to catch it.
The TB death rate was 0.2 deaths per 100,000 persons in 2020, 13 percent higher than the 2019 rate.
Treatment includes a three to nine month course of the antibiotics isoniazid and rifampicin. Depending on the type and severity of the infection, the medications can be used from daily to weekly.
Documents filed early in the case’s history stated that the woman had begun but not completed the prescribed treatment for tuberculosis.
Officials fear the woman’s refusal to self-isolate puts the rest of the community at risk.
At the final hearing on April 5, Nigel Turner, division director of infectious disease control for the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, said the case would be “referred to the Pierce County sheriff to arrange for the individual’s detention.”
The next court hearing is scheduled for May 19.