Police yesterday arrested a 51-year-old man at a Whitmore Village home and placed him in court-ordered quarantine because it was feared he had stopped taking his tuberculosis medication and posed a threat to public health, an official said.

The confinement of Armenio Teodoro is a rare case of public officials forcibly quarantining someone with a communicable disease, said Dr. Jessie Wing, head of the state Health Department's Tuberculosis Control Branch.

Teodoro is being kept at Leahi Hospital in Kaimuki.

Public health officials discovered Teodoro had tuberculosis after he was arrested in July for assault. During a routine screening of arrested persons at the O'ahu Intake Center, his tuberculin test was positive.

Hawai'i Criminal Justice Data Center records show Teodoro was convicted of misdemeanor third-degree assault and sentenced on Aug. 16 to two days of confinement and one year of probation.

Teodoro has a type of tuberculosis that is treatable with medication. He is not a threat to public health if he takes his tuberculosis medication, but the state Health Department took action after learning he wasn't taking his medication.

"We can't force him to take his medication, all we can do is isolate him with hopes he'll take his medication," Wing said.

"We are trying to protect public health," she said.

Wing recalls only one other time in the last eight years where the state has had to pursue quarantine action against an individual.

"This (action) is rare; most patients comply," Wing said.

After Teodoro was found to have active TB, he was sent to Leahi Hospital for three weeks and discharged Aug. 20.

Teodoro fell through the cracks following his release, Wing said.

While doing followups, the Health Department learned Teodoro was not taking his medication, had skipped meetings with his probation officer and was allegedly hanging around a known drug house.

A social worker found him to be "agitated and confrontational" in August, Wing said.

Teodoro's family has been cooperating with health officials, Wing said.