A Wells County, Ind., man infected with TB has been placed on home detention because he refused to follow prescribed treatment. Because of the health risk posed by the man's non-compliance, the Wells County Health Department filed an order with Wells Circuit Court to place the man on home detention so he will take the required medications. The patient will need to be on home detention for at least six months, said Dr. Donald Dian, county health officer. The monitoring will cost Wells County Community Corrections $2,000, which county commissioners have agreed to pay.

While Wells County had fewer than five new cases of TB last year, just one untreated or under-treated case can spread the disease. Nancy Cloud, division director for the Fort Wayne-Allen County TB Clinic, said Allen County has only had one similar case that occurred nearly 15 years ago. In that situation, an Allen County man refused to comply with treatment and was court-ordered to be taken to an isolation wing at Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis. Indiana reported 115 new cases of TB in 2001, including nine in Allen County.

Treatment for active TB includes a regimen of usually four oral medications, plus vitamin B6. Medicines are given sometimes daily, sometimes several times a week, depending on severity of disease. Health departments give the medication in direct-observed therapy, with a nurse or health practitioner watching the patient swallow the pills at home, work or at the TB clinic. Direct-observed therapy is the most significant reason TB cases have decreased in the United States and other parts of the world, according to the World Health Organization.

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