March 30, 2005
By Rob Young/Appeal-Democrat
Marysville-Yuba City, CA
Four Yuba County residents with active cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis are under orders to remain in their homes, including a 19-year-old East Linda woman who was arrested for leaving, a Yuba County health official said.
Health Officer Joseph Cassady said he ordered the woman arrested after she allegedly left the home against his orders.
Deputies wearing protective gear were at the woman's Aspen Way home shortly after 5 a.m. March 20 and arrested her on the misdemeanor offense when she returned. She was booked into Yuba County Jail but released the same day, said Capt. Ron Johnson.
Yuba County TB cases increased from three in 2003 to seven in 2004, making it one of 14 California counties with an increase, according to the American Lung Association of California.
"Isolation," which means confining someone with active TB in his or her home or in a hospital, is common in cases that are resistant to multiple drugs, said Cassady.
"We use (isolation) all the time," he said. "We don't want them out in the community."
Johnson said he recalled "a couple" of other cases where TB victims were arrested. Sometimes victims are isolated in a medical wing at the jail and treated, he said.
Tuberculosis is transmitted through the air when a person with active TB in the lungs coughs or talks.
Victims can be confined anywhere from two weeks to a year - as long as it takes the drugs to work, said Cassady.
Dr. Jennifer Flood, chief of the TB surveillance unit of the California Department of Health Services, agreed that home isolation is common throughout the state in cases of active TB.
"Direct observation therapy," in which a health worker visits TB victims in their homes to make sure they take their medication, is also common, said Flood.
Appeal-Democrat reporter Rob Young can be reached at 749-4710. You may e-mail him at <mailto:ryoung@appeal-democrat.com>ryoung@appeal-democrat.com.
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