Any person who leaves a hospital operated by the department for the treatment of tuberculosis to which he has been committed by court order, without having been discharged by the medical staff of the tuberculosis inpatient unit or the community tuberculosis control unit, shall be taken into custody and returned thereto by the sheriff of any county where such person may be found, upon affidavit being filed with the sheriff by the designated responsible official of the hospital to which such person has been committed.