A New Hampshire homeless man who has had active tuberculosis for at least eight months has caused a public health conundrum, as state authorities have consistently failed to get him to isolate.
Nearro F. Forbes, 41, has been roaming the streets of Manchester and Nashua and has rebuffed multiple offers of medical treatment, the Boston Globe reported.
The state has also tried forcing him into three different hospitals by issuing isolation orders, all of which he has defied.
Last week, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) asked a judge to order his isolation at a male prison in Concord.
The prison was chosen as the site to hold him because it has an airtight negative pressure room that would keep him away from others as he is treated.
Despite the state attorney general’s office raising legal concerns about having the New Hampshire Department of Corrections detain him, Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Martin P. Honigberg issued an order on Tuesday agreeing that DHHS’s isolation order was justified.
Honigberg’s order directed Forbes to ‘immediately isolate at a fixed place of his choosing’ and also submit to medical treatment and observation for 30 days.
If he does not comply, he could be held in contempt of court, which would land him in jail.
Nearro F. Forbes, the 41-year-old homeless man with active tuberculosis, has been roaming around the streets of Manchester (pictured) and Nashua for months
This comes after the state announced in October that more than 650 people were potentially exposed to someone with active tuberculosis at homeless clinics and correctional facilities in Nashua and Manchester during the first half of 2025.
Officials declined to say whether Forbes was the originator of the bacterial infection.
After 100 of the potentially exposed people were tested, two more cases of active tuberculosis were discovered.
New Hampshire typically has about 12 cases of tuberculosis per year and has not released its official tally for last year.
Elizabeth Maynard, a DHHS attorney, told the Globe that the state has provided tuberculosis testing clinics and contract-tracing services to anyone who believes they may have been exposed.
Maynard also hinted that this will be the strategy going forward, rather than expending overwhelming resources toward trying to detain Forbes, who will likely remain uncompliant.
Honigberg said in his order that officials have tried getting Forbes to isolate at less restrictive places than a prison. This included an outpatient treatment facility for substance abuse, a transitional housing unit or even a motel.
In October, officials ordered Forbes into isolation at Elliot Hospital in Manchester but he did not comply.
Last week, authorities took Forbes to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua, but left before he could be given treatment
In November, they ordered him to isolate at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, but he left after a few hours.
Authorities lost touch with him for the next three months until he was spotted showing symptoms at a warming station in Nashua.
Tuberculosis spreads through the air and most people don’t start showing symptoms immediately. The bacteria that causes TB disease can live dormant in a person’s body for months.
As the bacteria grows, infected people can experience a range of symptoms, including chest pain, weakness, weight loss, loss of appetite, chills and night sweats, according to the CDC. In extreme cases, sufferers can cough up blood.
It’s not clear what symptoms Forbes has, but it is possible for someone to have tuberculosis for months if they forego treatment. If the infection continues without any medical intervention, Forbes could die.
Forbes was intercepted by authorities last week while he showed up for a court hearing on unrelated charges. He was taken to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua and was ordered to stay there.
He left and the hospital said they would only accept him back if the state provides a 24/7 security detail.
Maynard told the Globe that her department does not have the money to hire security.
Her last hope is that Forbes is brought in and charged with a misdemeanor for disobeying the DHHS isolation order. In that scenario, she would not want the state to detain him in a county facility and expose other inmates.
