PORTLAND – A 54-year-old transient is in Cumberland County Jail for refusing to take drugs to prevent the spread of tuberculosis.

State officials say John Donohue will remain there until he is transported to a state-run hospital in Boston that has a tuberculosis unit. Treatment will cost Maine taxpayers nearly $1,000 a day.

Donohue’s case appears to be the first in Maine in which a person has been jailed to make sure he takes the medicine needed to avoid spreading a potentially fatal disease, according to legal and health officials.

State officials would not identify Donohue because of confidentiality laws, but Donohue told the Portland Press Herald he’s the person they are working with. Donohue said he’s homeless and prone to alcohol abuse. He has traveled from state to state.

He was diagnosed in early June with tuberculosis after an arrest for drinking in public.

Donohue was initially sent to Maine Medical Center in Portland to receive tuberculosis medicine, and in late August when he was no longer contagious Donohue was transferred to the Barron Center in Massachusetts to complete his six-month treatment regimen.

But Donohue said he became lonely and bored and left after a week.

“They were all older than me, in their 90s and stuff,” he said. “I would just sit in the lobby by myself. I didn’t care for that too much, so I took a powder.”

Dr. Kathleen Gensheimer, state epidemiologist with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said Donohue was unconcerned about the threat tuberculosis posed to his health.

“If you’re not concerned about something that can hurt others, like tuberculosis, then it’s our mandate … to ensure treatment,” Gensheimer said.

Donohue said he’s confident the treatment center in Boston will be acceptable, and he will complete treatment there in about 2 1/2 months.

For each of the 20 or so cases of tuberculosis in Maine each year, state officials must determine who has had prolonged contact with that person to see if they were infected.