But Don't Have Tuberculosis

Man with active TB found drunk in public

By PATRICK MALONE
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

A Puebloan who has been diagnosed with active tuberculosis exposed police and medical professionals to the disease again Friday, when he was found drunk in public and in violation of an isolation order issued by the local health department.

Gilbert Ortega Jr., 50, was found at 12:40 a.m. by medics in the 700 block of East Fourth Street. He was passed out drunk there, according to a report by Pueblo police officer Mindy Mangel.

Ortega was behaving combatively with ambulance personnel when police arrived.

Dr. Christine Nevin-Woods, head of the Pueblo City-County Health Department, issued an isolation order on Dec. 28 requiring Ortega to be confined to an apartment until his condition is deemed to be no longer contagious.

Ortega was treated at Parkview Medical Center and released to his girlfriend.

Police paid Ortega a surprise visit soon following his release from the hospital to make sure he was complying with the isolation order.

Officers found Ortega at home along with a 37-year-old man who shares the apartment with him and also is under an isolation order for active TB.

Police and jail staff have dealt with Ortega and his father, Gilbert Ortega, 71, multiple times in recent months. Those contacts exposed dozens of law enforcement members and medical professionals to the disease.

Police forwarded their reports about the incident to the district attorney's office for possible filing of charges over Ortega's violation of the isolation order.

As of last week, there were five active cases of TB in Pueblo