Beijing ? The family of a jailed Chinese journalist charged with leaking state secrets is worried about his deteriorating health, his brother said Thursday.

Shi Tao was sentenced a year ago to a 10-year prison term for sending abroad an e-mail with notes about a government memo on media restrictions.

“He’s not doing well in many areas,” his brother, Shi Hua, said in a telephone interview. “He has contracted some sort of contagious skin disease from other inmates and he’s having trouble breathing because of a lung condition. His spirits are very low.”

Shi said the Chishan Prison in the central province of Hunan refuses to let a doctor check on his brother but allows the family to give him medicine.

A man who answered the telephone at the prison said he was “unclear” whether Shi Tao, 38, was at the facility. He refused to give his name.

Shi Hua said he last visited his brother in January. Their mother sees him once a month, Shi said.

“His case is over for now. There’s nothing left for us to do,” he said.