From the AJC.

When doctors told Francisco Santos he had tuberculosis Friday, health officials said the Gwinnett County 17-year-old refused to believe it.

Then the wiry, dark-haired youth refused to submit to any treatment. Worse, he said he was walking out of the Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville and heading back to his home country of Mexico, officials said"I think he was scared," said David Will, attorney for the Gwinnett County Board of Health.

Gwinnett health officials found themselves in a bind. They had a person with a case of active, contagious tuberculosis, refusing treatment and threatening to carry the disease to a foreign country.

They also were aware of the recent incident involving Atlanta lawyer Andrew Speaker, who also has tuberculosis. After Speaker left for his wedding in Greece, a national news conference set off an international health scare.

In this case, the Gwinnett officials acted decisively: They put Santos in jail Friday evening, in a rare act of a government agency confining a sick person. Santos is the only inmate in a special medical isolation cell designed for inmates with contagious conditions. The cell, which measures about 15 feet by 20 feet, has a special ventilation system that keeps the air from reaching other inmates.

The 5-foot-5 teenager has a toilet, sink, bed and a mirror made of polished metal. Two deputies guard him and the other medical inmates.

Will, the county health attorney, said Santos was detained because he is a public health threat.

"He has active, contagious TB," Will said Saturday. "He is at risk of communicating that with anybody he comes in contact with."

Will said Santos is being held under a court order for confinement. He'll stay in that cell until either he starts cooperating and accepting treatment, or a judge makes some other decision at a Sept. 5 hearing. At that commitment hearing, the judge could decide to place him in a hospital with security.

Looking for recent contacts
Meanwhile, Gwinnett health officials have started tracking down those people Santos may have come in contact with, such as family members. Will said Santos, who lists his address in jail records as Norcross, lives with at least one parent and several younger siblings. His jail records also indicate he is unemployed.

Santos listed his birth place as Mexico. Will said he did not know the status of Santos' citizenship. The Gwinnett jail has two federal immigration agents who screen foreign-born inmates to determine whether to investigate their status and potentially place a hold on them for deportation.

As early as Monday, Gwinnett health officials expect to speak publicly about the extent of Santos' disease and his treatment.

Right now, it remains unclear how long his confinement may go on. If he starts cooperating and obtaining treatment, he could be moved to a hospital and, when he is no longer contagious, sent home for further treatment. But if he continues his denials, the judge may commit him to a hospital with security for treatment, Will said.

Speaker case drew attention
His case arrives only about a month after Speaker, the Atlanta attorney, was released from hospital isolation in Denver. When the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention interrupted his honeymoon in Greece, Speaker and his bride raced back to the United States to avoid detention in Italy.

Once back in the U.S., Speaker spent time under armed guard at Grady Memorial Hospital — the first person placed under a federal isolation order in more than 40 years. Speaker's case drew heightened concern because he was diagnosed with a particularly drug-resistant form of tuberculosis.

Will he did not know the extent of Santos' disease.

Speaker, commenting on the Santos case, said that if indeed the testing was accurate on Santos being contagious, then the Gwinnett officials acted appropriately.

"It's in the public's interest that he be forced to seek treatment," Speaker said Saturday.

At the same time, Speaker stressed that his case was different. When he left the country, Speaker said Fulton County health officials had said he was not contagious and not a threat to anyone. Fulton County health officials, however, have contended they clearly "advised" Speaker not to travel, and they have since been criticized for failing to sequester Speaker before he departed the country.

In the Santos case, custody was sought by the Gwinnett County health department through a petition for commitment. Such petitions are "extremely rare," Will said. "I personally have not been involved in one in more than a decade," he said.

In his isolation cell, Santos is alert and walking around, officials said. He does not have the appearance of a sickly person and has not been a problem for jail officials, apart from his unwillingness to accept treatment, officials said.

The Gwinnett officials hope his family members talk some sense into the headstrong youth.

"Everybody's hoping he will undergo the treatment," Will said.

OK all, a few things to think about:

Unsure of the immigration status.

and

If he was going to school what is going to occur next.

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A leader in the Democratic Party is a boss, in the Republican Party he is a leader.

Smart people realize that the purpose of Westmoreland’s survey on immigration is to compile a list of names and addresses of people whose hot button is immigration. They can expect their name to go on a suckers’ list as they will later receive requests for money to help support their cause and re-elect Westmoreland.

Most such surveys are bogus. They provide no real explanation of the problem and of the alternative solutions. They just ask for a gut reaction as they guide the responder to the one answer that is wanted.

Question one, for instance, suggests that the 14th Amendment, which makes all persons born in the U.S. subject to its jurisdiction (in other words, not children of foreign diplomats) U.S. citizens, should be changed so as to deny citizenship to children of illegal immigrants. That means many of these children will then have no country. What’s to happen to them? (Westmoreland doesn’t care. He never thought about it.)

Question two insists that immigrant workers here illegally prove they have paid taxes on their wages for three years if they want to stay. What Westmoreland does not realize is that our federal income tax system provides an earned income credit to low-wage earners to encourage them to be employed, with the result that those who file tax returns receive more money than they paid in.

Question three wants Congress to fund a wall along the Mexico border. Actually the funding always comes from the taxpayers, not Congress. Any device that serves to stop illegal entry should be fine. Why does it have to be a wall?

Question four wants Congress to pass legislation to deport all illegal immigrants. What for? We already have that legislation.

Question five wants legislation that gives employers immediate ability to check on the legal status of potential employees. Have you tried to get a passport lately? The key word here is “immediate.”

President Bush presented to Congress thoughtful and comprehensive legislation on solving our illegal immigration problem. Hot heads like Westmoreland got it off track. Why didn’t Westmoreland ask his constituents, pointblank, Have you acquainted yourself with our president’s proposal on solving our illegal immigration problem, and do you agree with it?

That might have been a sensible question. But that’s not what you’re going to get when someone is trying to get your name on his Suckers’ List.

Yup, I got one the other day. Which reminds me, I need to fill it out and send it in...

**Become a Card-Carrying Member!**

How about the sixth option; enforcing existing laws. I have to assume that Congressman Westmoreland believes that current laws do not work since this is not an option on his survey. If there is anyone from his congressional office reading this and other posts please inform the Congressman that we are getting feed-up with this.

Now for some board talk - This is the second time that I have agreed with $. $, are you coming slightly closer to center of the political spectrum? (LOL) Are our ideas pulling you over?? Are you a soon to be convert????

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Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.

Pass this and pass that and change the Constitution! What a bunch of crap!
We already have sufficient laws to check on their legality and deport them.
These things are simply diversions to occupy time for those who do not want them deported except by an occasional vote getter for them, like the woman just deported who was hiding in a church.
Cucumber and bean pickers do not want them deported, neither do their congressmen and senators. Just ask Saxby and the other senator! They work for the onion and cucumber pickers.
It is all a farce---the wall and everything!
We need to have the same rules for Mexicans as for Canadians.
Let them all come in if they can find a job, but register as they come in and get a legitimate SS number, and pay taxes.
A politician gets votes for saying "hang all the illegals," and what does that say about the fools who believe him?
Has any congressman or senator ever came to see the Sheriff here or the mayors and requested that they begin to arrest those without proper identification? No, and they won't.

I got one, mailed it back today.