Air traveler with tuberculosis

This makes me so angry I just want to scream. A 31-year-old man who knew he had tuberculosis flew from Atlanta to Paris and then - after learning in Paris that he had extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis - flew from Prague to Montreal. Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB) occurs when two classes of anti-tubercular drugs have become ineffective in treating the person's disease. It's so rare that only 49 people in the US have been diagnosed with it since 1993. He chose to travel by commercial air, placing other passengers at risk. He had been advised not to travel. But, of course, he had to make the trip - it was his honeymoon. They don't know exactly when or where he caught it. What is most ironic is that his wife's father is a CDC microbiologist studying ... you got it ... tuberculosis.

The poor idiot is a lawyer for pete's sake...he's n9ot uneducated.
That was the most surprising thing to me- I really thiought that it would turn out that the ill person was some emaciated, ill looking person from a third world country that didn't know any better. :eek:

You'd think that with the FIL and his job he'd realize the position that
he was putting people in.

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But then again my suspicious mind is wondering if the FIL gave his son a surprise wedding gift...


Here's my daughter and THIS!!!!

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The illness is not airborne but is transferred by coming in contatct with his
body fluid- from what I heard......
That makes if a little better - just a little....

Is there any thought at the National level, how much of a homeland
security issue this could be? Is there any secuity issue that we are prepared
for? This is bad enough as just a personal health problem, but think how
easy it would be to spread disease coast to coast. :(

The guy is in Denver now to get treatment. Its been on the Denver channels all day. He was on the do not fly lists but he still made it on all the flights. Its pretty scary when you think about it.

The TSA also had his name on their "lists" however he got through customs, traveling through many countries and nobody stopped him! Our tax dollars, NOT at work :rolleyes:

Quote:

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The illness is not airborne but is transferred by coming in contatct with his body fluid- from what I heard......

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It gets airborne when the persons coughs and small bits get into the air. If my memory serves me right, that is how it is the main way it is spread. That is why they are looking for the people who sat close to him (and not everyone) on those planes.

He could have wore a surgical mask and not took a chance on spreading it.... but if he had done that, they would have asked why... :rolleyes:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lizbud

Is there any thought at the National level, how much of a homeland
security issue this could be? Is there any secuity issue that we are prepared
for? This is bad enough as just a personal health problem, but think how
easy it would be to spread disease coast to coast. :(

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Tom CLancy, Robert Preston and a few others have written FICTIONAL TALES about an infectious disease getting loose.

The ONLY thing we have going for us is the ability to track down "patient zero" quickly and to get any people he came in contact with identified.


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Think about a disease with the ability to spred quickly- like the flu in a household..TB can be cured but that XDR TB cannot.

THe fact that you need direct contact works in our favor...it's not a fast mover!

http://rhodeisland.cox.net/cci/newsn...alidatearticle

Here is the link for one article. Says he did NOT get it from his FIL's work. Uh=huh. Such a coincidence, eh?

The TSA inspector who let him fly has been fired. Good. He thought the warning was "discretionary." What, with the words: done protective mask when dealing with him." Ugh.

The definition of selfishness.
:mad:

The news report on the radio I heard was that they guy had been treated in Denver and did not know he was untreatable or contagious, the dr. there simply said he did not 'reccommend' travel but didn't say why, the guy then went to new york for treatment but they never said anything about travel at all, then he went to get married and heard about it then and went to Canada. At least the radio report I heard on it said that but you can't believe 1/2 of what's in the media anymore.

From CBC


U.S. statutes were designed to keep people in one area or state but are not specific about international travel. WHO guidelines also do not spell out who should pay to move patients or isolate them, or what the responsibilities are of health officials in the country where a traveller is staying, Gerberding said.

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Originally Posted by Freedom

Says he did NOT get it from his FIL's work. Uh=huh. Such a coincidence, eh?

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I KNEW it! Now they ARE investigating the FIL!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jadapit

The guy is in Denver now to get treatment. Its been on the Denver channels all day. He was on the do not fly lists but he still made it on all the flights. Its pretty scary when you think about it.

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Yeah, he is actually quarantined at the hospital my husband works at. Evidently he will be arrested if he tries to leave.