Board Expected to OK Special Jail Cells for TB : Prevention: The $30,800 project would allow the isolation of inmates to prevent the spread of tuberculosis in jails.

The County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve funding Tuesday to modify six jail cells to isolate inmates who have contracted or are suspected of contracting tuberculosis.

The project is expected to cost $30,800 and involves renovating four cells in the county Intake/Release Center and two units at the Women’s Jail in a move to prevent the spread of the highly contagious disease.

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on the project funding Tuesday. None of the supervisors has voiced opposition to the proposal.

Dr. Hugh F. Stallworth, the county’s health officer, has said the precautions at the jails are being proposed because of the disease’s rapid growth in Orange County and concern over the overcrowded nature of local jail facilities.

Because of close living conditions and health problems brought into the jail system, inmates are generally considered to be at higher risk of contracting some diseases, including tuberculosis, officials said.

At least three cases of TB have been diagnosed in the jail population so far this year, compared to a total of six recorded last year. In those cases, inmates had to be transported to Western Medical Center-Anaheim, where they were quarantined and provided medical treatment.

The new cells, officials said, would allow inmates to be isolated much faster, provide for more treatment and eliminate some transportation to and from the hospital.

Inmates assigned to the modified units, to be outfitted with special ventilation systems that would circulate contaminated air directly outside, would typically spend two to three weeks in the units while undergoing treatment.

While not a serious problem at the jail, the disease has raised concerns in the past two years at La Quinta High School in Westminster, where more than a dozen students have been treated for active TB.

County health officials recently prescribed treatment for 79 students whose skin tests revealed that they harbored bacteria which could trigger the disease at a later time.

Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease that is spread by airborne droplets from coughing or sneezing. Generally, the disease is spread by prolonged contact with an infected person. Symptoms of the disease are coughing, fever, night sweats, weight loss and the coughing of blood.