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-- Man with drug-resistance TB flys despite warnings


Posted by Krypton on Jun-01-2007 01:06:

Man with drug-resistance TB flys despite warnings

I think he should be definately prosecuted. I bet al-qaida may get the idea to send some suicide disease carriers.

Source
quote:
Homeland Security probes TB fugitive case By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
14 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Homeland Security Department said on Thursday it was investigating how a newlywed lawyer with a dangerous form of tuberculosis slipped through borders despite orders to detain him.

The patient, 31-year-old Andrew Speaker of Atlanta, arrived at a specialist hospital in Denver for treatment for his infection, known as extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis or

XDR TB.

"There is an investigation into what transpired at the port of entry," Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said in a telephone interview.

He said all officers at all ports of entry into the United States had Speaker's name and were told to detain him and contact the local public health department.

"The system worked," Knocke said. "The information was actually sent out to all ports everywhere for all port officers to access on the 22nd of May."

But Speaker slid through on the 24th of May, driving from Montreal to New York. An officer may have mistakenly waved him through, Knocke said. Speaker could also have fooled someone. "Let's not forget that he was pretty deceitful," Knocke said.

Members of Congress said they would investigate how border agents and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention handled the case.

"This incident only reinforces my concern about our nation's ability to cope with a major outbreak, whether naturally occurring, as in this case, or intentional," said Sen. Susan Collins, ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

FATHER-IN-LAW SURPRISE

Speaker's father-in-law, Robert Cooksey, revealed he has worked at the CDC for 32 years in the Division of Tuberculosis.

The twist in the story of a newlywed couple who hopscotched across Europe to Canada ahead of health authorities trying to stop them raised immediate questions about how Speaker became infected.

"I do not have TB, nor have I ever had TB," Cooksey said in a statement. "My son-in-law's TB did not originate from myself or the CDC's labs, which operate under the highest levels of biosecurity."

Speaker was the first patient to be isolated under a federal order in 44 years.

His flight forced the CDC, the World Health Organization and European authorities to track down about 100 people who may have been in close contact with him on trans-Atlantic flights.

Speaker was scheduled to undergo treatment that would include oral and intravenous antibiotics and perhaps surgery.

Dr. Gwen Huitt, an infectious diseases expert at National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver who is treating Speaker, said he was diagnosed with tuberculosis by accident, after being X-rayed for a rib injury.

"He has a fairly extensive travel history over the past six years," Huitt told a news conference. "We don't have any idea where he contracted it."

He may need surgery to remove infected tissue and can expect to be on a cocktail of antibiotics for two years, she said. She estimated the total cost at $250,000 to $350,000. Speaker's insurance company said it paid $12,000 to fly him from Atlanta to Denver.


Posted by biznology on Jun-01-2007 06:56:

prosecuted? he may have been slightly deceitful to elude a customs agent, but he didnt come back into the US to spread the disease, and he is getting treated.

and alqaeda prolly already had this idea, its not exactly new|


Posted by Magnetonium on Jun-01-2007 11:46:



No offense, but to me people like that [carriers of very dangerous and easy to transmit diseases] are far more dangerous than Al Qaeda. Its so obvious - I mean, infectious diseases kill many more North Americans than all gun and terrorist violence in North America alone. Human pathogens/disease is a very dangerous issue. TB especially, which is the fastest spreading disease in the world.

They should install at the entrypoints into the country sophisticated systems for finding easy to transmit health problems of the people who enter the country.


Posted by DJ Shibby on Jun-02-2007 03:41:

The response to this is especially funny because most of us have trained ourselves to go to work even when we're ill, despite the risk it presents to others.


Posted by DJ Shibby on Jun-02-2007 03:41:

quote:
Originally posted by Magnetonium

They should install at the entrypoints into the country sophisticated systems for finding easy to transmit health problems of the people who enter the country.


i loled.



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