A Georgia man was infected with XDR-TB, which is a form of turberculosis that is resistant to almost all antibiotics was able to leave the United States, travel around Europe, fly to Montreal, then drive back to the United States unimpeded.
Andrew Speaker, the man, was held in Atlanta under federal isolation order and transferred to the National Jewish Research Center in Denver at his request. A similar federal isolation order has not been issued since 1963, when a patient was quarantined for smallpox.
There is a difference of opinion as to whether or not he was advised not to travel. The patient insists he was not. He has been under medical care since January, when a chest x-ray revealed a TB lesion. Health officials insist he was aware he had drug-resistant TB on May 10th, and written instructions were sent to him, affirming the order to not-travel. Diane Sawyer has secured an exclusive interview with Speaker, to be aired Friday on Good Day America from 7AM to 9AM EDT.
Speaker asked the forgiveness of those who now have to be isolated and tested for TB. We have yet to see his interview…we intend to record it and comment on it at a later date…
The passenger took off on May 12th from Atlanta to Paris. The CDC found out on May 22 that he had XDR-TB and called him at his hotel in Rome the next day. He was advised to stay put, and advised to wear a mask in public and told efforts would be made to return him to the US. But when a former CDC doctor working with the Italian Ministry of Health went to the hotel, he had checked out.
The CDC contacted government agencies to issue a no-fly order to prevent him from boarding a commercial flight, but it was too late, and he flew to Montreal via Prague. From there he and his new wife drove across the Canadian border to New York, despite the fact the border officers at airports and land crossings nationwide had been ordered to detain them.
The Department of Homeland Security has reassigned the agents who let him through pending an investigation, and it and other organizations are likely to review the situation, which has serious security implications. If we cannot defend against one man with TB being criminally negligent…how can we defend against terrorism?
As for Speaker…if he hasn’t been charged already…he should be subject to a class action suit by the passengers involved for reckless endangerment or whatever other negligence charges they can bring against him.