Woman with untreated TB finally in custody—held in “negative pressure” room

Enlarge / Mycobacterium tuberculosis. (credit: Getty | NIH/NIAID)

Law enforcement officials in Washington state have finally apprehended a Tacoma woman with tuberculosis who has refused treatment and isolation for over a year and has spent the past several months actively evading the sheriff's department's efforts to execute a civil arrest warrant against her.

She is now being held in the Pierce County Jail, Nigel Turner, division director of Communicable Disease Control for the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, said in an update late Thursday.

"She will be housed in a room specially equipped for isolation, testing, and treatment. We are hopeful she will choose to get the life-saving treatment she needs to treat her tuberculosis," he added. He also thanked local law enforcement who "supported public health with this necessary intervention."