Tb Victim Hospitalized Under Guard Man Previously Stopped Two Treatment Programs

A man suffering from tuberculosis and dubbed a public health risk after twice fleeing treatment programs will have a guard posted outside his hospital room.

A Spokane County Superior Court judge granted the regional health district’s request Thursday to detain and treat Ricky Polston at Deaconess Medical Center. He will be held there at least until a hearing Tuesday.

“It’s very contagious,” said Richard Sayre, health district attorney. “We’ve got to keep him there.”

Polston turned up at the city detox center Tuesday with near-toxic levels of alcohol in his body, according to an affidavit filed by Health Officer John Beare.

After Polston told the center he had tuberculosis, he was sent to Deaconess.

Polston learned he had the disease on Feb. 28, when he was admitted to a Houston hospital. He left that hospital on March 7, and the Houston Public Health Service tried to track him down.

The Houston health service learned that Polston had hopped a railroad boxcar to California, according to Beare’s affidavit. Authorities were alerted, and Polston was isolated after turning up April 3 in Bakersfield, Calif.

Polston was later allowed to move to a hotel room, where he was supposed to continue receiving treatment. He was told to be in his hotel room and see his doctor May 5, but he missed both appointments.

He next showed up in Spokane.

Because Polston has twice started and stopped treatment, health officials are concerned that he’s developed a virulent drug-resistant strain.

“He must remain in custody or in a verifiable treatment program until his TB is in remission, which may take many months if the infection is multi-drug resistant TB,” Beare’s affidavit said.

Antibiotic treatments for tuberculosis can take up to a year, and patients should be quarantined during the early contagious stages. Afterward, patients still must take daily medicine for up to six months, so the disease doesn’t become drug-resistant.

Tuberculosis, a sometimes deadly airborne bacterial disease, is considered to be a public health threat if left untreated. State law allows counties to ask courts to jail infected people who refuse to take medicine.

TB patients have been jailed in Vancouver, Wash., and Olympia this year after refusing their medicine.

The situation pops up about once a year in Spokane, Sayre said.

Last year, a patient had to be guarded for 52 days, costing the Sheriff’s Department about $70,000, according to the health district.

The Sheriff’s Department originally balked at guarding Polston’s hospital room Thursday, but sent a deputy over by the end of the day.<

, DataTimes