By MONA NAIR
6 News Reporter
NEWPORT (WATE) – A woman with Tuberculosis is under quarantine in Cocke County after a judge ordered it.
Area leaders felt it was necessary to confine her for public safety, because TB is a highly contagious, airborne lung disease.
Judge John Bell put the woman in the custody of the sheriff's office. He put them in charge of making sure she wasn't infecting the public.
The patient is now being treated at Newport Medical Center.
"In Cocke County we see one to four cases a year. That's what we've seen for the last four years. It's relatively rare," explained Deanna Hill, with Newport Medical Center. Hill could not comment on the case specifically but says their rare tuberculosis patients are kept in isolation.
The Tennessee Department of Health released a statement saying, "There is no risk to the population at large of exposure to illness linked to this patient."
People who believe they've been exposed to the disease should contact the local health department.
Symptoms include coughing up blood, fever, loss of appetite, weight loss and night sweats.
There is a follow up hearing to this patient's case in Cocke County's court next week.
A woman with Tuberculosis is under quarantine in Cocke County after a judge ordered it.
