GRAYSON -- Discovery of an inmate with spinal meningitis forced officials to lock down the Stanislaus County Honor Farm and quarantine prisoners for 25 hours, a sheriff's spokesman said.

The 37-year-old inmate became ill and was taken to a Modesto hospital, where he was diagnosed with the meningitis, deputy Tom Letras said Monday. County health officials were notified and ordered a quarantine beginning at about 3 p.m. May 27.

Health officials determined that the strain of meningitis was not transmitted through the air and was not as dangerous, Letras said. The quarantine was lifted at 4 p.m. May 28. The prisoner remains hospitalized.

"It's called droplet spread and it's usually contracted through nasal and oral secretions," said Dr. John Walker, public health officer. "For those in very close contact (to the inmate), it was essential to give them preventative antibiotics, and that happened.

"The risk is relatively low in this county. During all of 2002, we had four cases in a county of nearly half a million people."

No work crews left the jail during the quarantine, Letras said. All the approximately 230 inmates and staff members were given the choice of taking medication.

Sheriff's and health officials checked records to see if any inmates might have been released or transferred within 10 days of coming in contact with the sick prisoner. The disease has a 10-day incubation period, Letras said.

The inmate who became ill was arrested March 20 and had been at the honor farm since March 30 serving an 180-day sentence for burglary. He is due to be released June 29, Letras said.

The name of the inmate was not released. Letras said he is from Robstown, Texas, and family members are en route.

Meningitis is a potentially fatal illness that attacks the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include the sudden onset of fever, intense headache, stiff neck and nausea.

Reprinted by permission of the Modesto Bee.