Woman who went on the lam with untreated TB is now cured

“She’s cured!”

Health officials in Washington state are jubilant about one particularly noteworthy resident’s clean bill of health: the woman who, for more than a year, refused to be isolated and treated for her active case of contagious tuberculosis. She even eluded authorities for almost three months while they attempted to carry out a civil arrest warrant. She famously told police that she rode a municipal bus to a casino while she was a runaway.

The woman, known solely as V.N. in court records, was ordered by the judge to start receiving treatment for her tuberculosis illness in January 2022. She refused to cooperate even though the court convened at least 17 hearings on the case and repeated the orders every month. In March 2023, the judge in her case issued an arrest order, but V.N. managed to get away from the authorities. When she was finally taken into custody in June of last year, she was given conditions for her release after spending 23 days in jail receiving therapy mandated by the court.

V.N.’s health officer, James Miller, of Tacoma-Pierce County, Washington, reported the happy conclusion this week.

“The woman complied with our disease investigators’ instructions and those of the Pierce County Superior Court. She has repeatedly tested negative for tuberculosis, often known as TB. She put on the weight she had lost and is now well again, according to Miller. He mentioned that V.N. and her family granted the county permission to announce the news, expressing their happiness that she has now received the necessary therapy.

In court filings, the health department mentioned that V.N. had been in a car accident in January 2023 and had visited an emergency room with complaints of chest pain. This was during the legal efforts to get V.N. treated. The doctors there took X-rays of her lungs without realizing she had active tuberculosis. Her lungs were in such terrible condition that the physicians mistook the photos for malignancy. The pictures actually showed that her TB condition was getting worse.

Risky infection

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, is a potentially fatal bacterial illness that mostly affects the lungs but can also spread to other parts of the body. When an infected individual coughs, sneezes, spits, or releases other bacterial cells into the surrounding air, the germs are dispersed throughout the air. Even though close, continuous contact is the primary mode of transmission, breathing even a small number of the microscopic germs is sufficient to cause an illness. The World Health Organization estimates that in 2022, tuberculosis will kill 1.3 million people and infect 10.6 million more. After COVID-19 that year, it was the second most common viral killer globally.

Extended antibiotic regimens are necessary for the treatment of tuberculosis; these medications are usually administered for four to nine months. More toxic second-line medications are needed for drug-resistant infections. Treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis used to take up to 20 months, although shorter regimens are preferred by more recent clinical guidelines.

County health officials did all within their power to get V.N. treated, considering the hazards she posed to herself and anyone around her. “Seeking a court order is our last resort after we exhaust all other options,” Miller stated. “It’s a difficult process that takes a lot of time and coordination with other agencies.”

However, Miller claims that after being taken into jail and having county disease investigators try to earn her trust, V.N. became more receptive to the notion of receiving treatment. “At that point, she realized how serious her situation was and decided to treat her illness,” he stated. After receiving care, she “regained her health over time.”

“She is now cured, which means that tuberculosis no longer poses a risk to her health,” he said. “This also means she is no longer at risk of infecting others.”