CDC: 107 people on TB flights need tests

[twinkiesmom]

<<Quote:
Originally Posted by accordn2me
I would chain myself in the MRI room and demand an MRI then I would go to another hospital and do the same thing. And if cops showed up I would scream they better stay away because I have all these contaigous masses growing inside me and doctors don't know what they are!

That's crazy, Buzz! What's the diagnosis?

Thanks for asking a2me, I'm still alive and kicking, doing great......................................except for my urine being red.>>

Buzz, I hope you're not messing around and they've already ruled out kidney cancer...It's really bad...very difficult to treat...my dad died of it.

 

[pedinurse]

My understanding is that TB is generally not caught by healthy people, if they are exposed - even if they are exposed a lot. It's immuno-compromised people who will catch it. So, his young, healthy wife would be unlikely to catch it no matter how contagious he was. But my grandmother, traveling for a visit, a new mother bringing her baby home for a visit, someone who has had an organ transplant or other health problems - if they're exposed to Andrew, it could be a very different scenario.

Everything seems consistient that he's not highly contagious, but he is contagious to some small degree. And with a high risk of death for anyone who gets it, that's pretty serious.

People can get TB, healthy or not.
People who have known TB can be in the community if they have started treatment that is considered to be adequate.
They think he is less contagious than some people with active TB because of the characteristics of his case. See the above posts - he's not spewing bacteria for the most part because his sputum (respiratory secretions) are free of the bacteria when examined, for example. But it is a CYA. The more you are with someone who has TB the more exposure you have to them and therefore, the more chance you have that you can pick up the bacteria.

 

[MSM]

Yeah, Buzz, seriously, I can understand why you were so alarmed by your xray reports! The fall sounds like it was pretty bad too! I hope you are OK.

 

[Buzz Mills]

Buzz, I hope you're not messing around and they've already ruled out kidney cancer...It's really bad...very difficult to treat...my dad died of it.

Sorry tm, just kidding about the red. I'm OK.

 

[MSM]

My understanding is that TB is generally not caught by healthy people, if they are exposed - even if they are exposed a lot. It's immuno-compromised people who will catch it. So, his young, healthy wife would be unlikely to catch it no matter how contagious he was. But my grandmother, traveling for a visit, a new mother bringing her baby home for a visit, someone who has had an organ transplant or other health problems - if they're exposed to Andrew, it could be a very different scenario.

Everything seems consistient that he's not highly contagious, but he is contagious to some small degree. And with a high risk of death for anyone who gets it, that's pretty serious.

Details, anybody can get TB, but you are correct that the immunocompromised have a higher risk of contracting the disease if exposed to it, and a higher risk of death from the disease if they get it.

I found some info on smear-negative TB transmission in the medical literature. One study suggests that about 17% of cases of TB in San Francisco where transmission occurs from person to person are caused by smear-negative patients. The same study suggests that a smear-negative pulmonary TB patient is about 22% as likely to transmit the disease to others as a smear-positive patient. A second study from Vancouver corroborated these findings.

From my Cecil's Textbook of Medicine: "The most important determinants of infectivity are the concentration of organisms in the sputum and the closeness and duration of contact with the index case. Other factors of importance are the cough frequency and personal habits of the index case, the efficiency with which aerosols are produced by such activities as singing, loud talking, and laughing, and the air circulation and ventilation in the area of contact."

References:

Behr MA. Warren SA. Salamon H. Hopewell PC. Ponce de Leon A. Daley CL. Small PM. Transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from patients smear-negative for acid-fast bacilli.[see comment][erratum appears in Lancet 1999 May 15;353(9165):1714]. [Journal Article. Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't. Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.] Lancet. 353(9151):444-9, 1999 Feb 6.


Hernandez-Garduno E. Cook V. Kunimoto D. Elwood RK. Black WA. FitzGerald JM. Transmission of tuberculosis from smear negative patients: a molecular epidemiology study.[see comment]. [Journal Article. Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't] Thorax. 59(4):286-90, 2004 Apr.

 

[Buzz Mills]

Another article:

Officials seek links in fugitive TB patient case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials are looking for any possible link between the lawyer isolated after flying across Europe and the Atlantic with dangerous form of tuberculosis and his father-in-law, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tuberculosis researcher.

Denver health officials have officially detained Andrew Speaker, 31, who is being treated at Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Center for extensively drug resistant tuberculosis, XDR TB for short. It will take months or even years of intensive antibiotic therapy and perhaps surgery to treat, doctors said.

The Denver detention order allowed a rare federal order to isolate him to be lifted, officials said. Last month, the CDC invoked a federal isolation order against Speaker, the first in 44 years, after he flew across Europe against public health advice.

Anyone who sat close to Speaker for a prolonged time should be tested for TB, the CDC and the World Health Organization said. In a statement issued late on Saturday the CDC said it had directly spoken to 160 of the 292 U.S. residents or citizens who were on board an Air France/Delta flight that Speaker took to Paris from Atlanta on May 12. Officials in Europe said they were contacting their nationals who were on the flights. Doctors said Speaker was not especially contagious, but 17 percent of cases of tuberculosis have been transmitted by people not identified as highly contagious.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070603/hl_nm/tuberculosis_usa_dc

 

[philamena]

From the above article.

- U.S. officials are looking for any possible link between the lawyer isolated after flying across Europe and the Atlantic with dangerous form of tuberculosis and his father-in-law, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tuberculosis researcher.

I spoke to several people today who thought it more than coincidental that the young man who has TB just happens to have a FIL who works for the CDC.:waitasec:

 

[Buzz Mills]

From the above article.


I spoke to several people today who thought it more than coincidental that the young man who has TB just happens to have a FIL who works for the CDC.:waitasec:

Yep, especially when it comes down to a drug resistant strain of TB. I wonder if they can identify the exact strain and identify the FIL's work as the source??

 

[philamena]

Yep, especially when it comes down to a drug resistant strain of TB. I wonder if they can identify the exact strain and identify the FIL's work as the source??

That is an excellent question.
Does anyone know exactly how long Andrew dated his new wife before marriage? Exactly how long did Andrew and his now FIL know each other before the marriage?
I wonder if this is mere coincidence or something more sinister?

 

[gaia]

That is an excellent question.
Does anyone know exactly how long Andrew dated his new wife before marriage? Exactly how long did Andrew and his now FIL know each other before the marriage?
I wonder if this is mere coincidence or something more sinister?

Exactly! There are soooo many holes in this story! I'm just about SURE this FIL MUST have something to do with this TB diagnosis. However, how could the man give TB to someone he might not want as a son-in-law and risk exposure to his daughter and grandchild? I can't see that at all. It's sure a weird story and I'm not sure we'll ever know the whole truth.

gaia

 

[SewingDeb]

She's the one wearing the mask in the picture with this article:

http://www.comcast.net/news/national/index.jsp?cat=DOMESTIC&fn=/2007/06/03/679850.html

 

[MagicRose99]

THIS is why this man is cupable for his actions:
<snip>
"Speaker was in Europe when he learned tests showed he had not just TB, but an extremely drug-resistant strain known as XDR.

Despite warnings from federal health officials not to board another long flight, he flew home for treatment, fearing he wouldn't survive if he didn't reach the United States, he said.

The family said that a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official told them the only way for him to get back to America from Italy would be to hire a private plane."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/06/04/tb.parents.ap/index.html

He found out he had this form of TB while in Europe. Knowing how contagious it is, he STILL boarded a PUBLIC plane to fly home for treatment, AFTER being told they should fly PRIVATE if they wanted to fly back to the US. IF he didn't have the money for a private jet (as the article states) then he should have stayed where he was until other arrangements could be made.

He KNOWINGLY may have infected those on that flight to the US... even if he was "in the dark" flying to Europe.

He needs to be held accountable for any and all his actions.

 

[crypto6]

However, how could the man give TB to someone he might not want as a son-in-law and risk exposure to his daughter and grandchild? gaia

Your way of thinking is quite paranoid; I really like it....

Crypto6

 

[MSM]

They should be able to do genetic analysis on Andrew's strain of TB that would definitively tell if it came from his FIL's lab.

 

[Buzz Mills]

They should be able to do genetic analysis on Andrew's strain of TB that would definitively tell if it came from his FIL's lab.

MSM, thanks for your answer to our question. That's good to know. I would assume that testing is now in progress.

 

[MSM]

You're welcome Buzz! This FIL sounds a little weird to me. He has researched TB for 32 years but says he would have done the same thing as Andrew did...plus he says in the quote below that he believed Andrew was noncontagious. Hard for me to understand how someone who has researched the disease for years wouldn't be aware of studies that I found with 5 minutes of casual searching on Medline. :waitasec:

"We were told that these induced sputum tests that he had were negative at that point so, by the guidelines, he was not considered infectious," said Speaker's father-in-law, Dr. Robert Cooksey, a tuberculosis researcher who has worked at the CDC in Atlanta, Georgia, for 32 years.
Of his son-in-law's travels, Cooksey said, "I probably would have done the very same thing."
The scientist said that "there is a little tension" from his co-workers at the CDC, "but they seem to be very understanding and very supportive."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/06/04/tb.groom/index.html

 

[Details]

I've also read that they're lying about not being able to afford a private jet - they say $100,000, but other sources say they could have done it for more like $12,000. I'm not positive about that, but it sounds about right. Looking online - most want more info than I'll give for a quote, but one was saying from $600 per hour - which easily fits into the $12,000 quote - and also fits into their family budget.

 

[ljwf22]

I think it's more along the lines of "we didn't want to lose the money for this expensive Greek wedding and Italian honeymoon." :doh:

 

[Liz]

On the news a little while ago I heard that the three TB tests run on Andrew at the hospital in Denver, all tested negative for TB.

Could it be, an oopsie, a mis-diagnosis?

 

[Buzz Mills]

On the news a little while ago I heard that the three TB tests run on Andrew at the hospital in Denver, all tested negative for TB.

Could it be, an oopsie, a mis-diagnosis?

The culture is still positive.