TB patient's name released; father-in-law works at CDC
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- The man infected with potentially fatal tuberculosis is receiving treatment at a Denver, Colorado, hospital as federal health officials continue to track down airline passengers who may have been exposed to the illness.
The man has been identified by multiple medical and law enforcement sources as Andrew Speaker, 31, a lawyer from Atlanta, Georgia. Hospital officials have not disclosed his name.
Speaker's father-in-law works for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, an agency spokesman said Thursday.
The father-in-law, Robert C. Cooksey, is a microbiologist who has conducted research on tuberculosis for the National Center for Infectious Diseases, according to a CDC biography posted on the agency's Web site.
CNN affiliate WSB-TV reported that Cooksey gave his son-in-law, Speaker, "fatherly advice" after he found out his son-in-law had contracted the infectious disease, but did not advise him in any official capacity.
Cooksey did not immediately return a call to his work number seeking comment.
Speaker was put in isolation at Atlanta's Grady Hospital after tests last week confirmed he had extremely drug-resistant TB, or XDR TB, the most dangerous form of the illness.
He was transferred to Denver on Thursday morning on a private aircraft, hospital officials said.
A spokesman for Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Center said Speaker was wearing a mask and was escorted by federal marshals when he arrived, but seemed normal otherwise.
"He looked kind of like you guys, more or less," spokesman William Allstetter told reporters.
He said Speaker told him he felt fine.
Allstetter said the patient would go through a series of tests and would be given two antibiotics.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is tracking down airline passengers who may have come in contact with Speaker, who traveled to Europe while he was infected.
They have identified about 80 air passengers on the two trans-Atlantic flights they feel are most at risk for exposure. (Watch passengers discuss their frustrations over the TB scare)
Speaker was in Europe for his wedding and honeymoon at the time his XDR TB was diagnosed, although he was aware before the trip that he had a form of drug-resistant TB. (CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta on other passengers' fears, frustrations)
Health officials said they advised him not to travel, but they had no authority to prevent him from doing so.
After making it clear that he was set on traveling despite the warnings, the man asked during a meeting with county health officials whether it would help if he wore a mask, Fulton County's Dr. Eric Benning told CNN.
Since the county was not able legally to stop him from traveling, the officials recommended he at least wear a mask, Benning said. Speaker left for Europe a few days later.
Speaker told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that health officials told him they preferred he not travel, but knew about his plans for an overseas wedding and honeymoon.
He told the newspaper that he had planned to undergo an 18-month "cutting-edge treatment" at the Denver hospital after his honeymoon.
Border security issues
Speaker, who was not identified by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, told the newspaper he was aware he was placed on a no-fly list in the United States after his diagnosis with XDR TB, which is why he decided not to fly into a U.S. airport.
The CDC had alerted Customs and Border Protection authorities about the man on May 22, noting that they anticipated he might board his scheduled June 5 flight into Atlanta, the official said. Instead, Speaker took a Czech Air flight from Prague to Montreal, along with 199 other passengers and crew members, and then drove into the United States.
But the CBP also put the information out to all ports of entry, which is "routine practice," according to the official.
Speaker's passport was checked at the Champlain, New York, border crossing, and although it triggered an alert on the Customs and Border Protection computer system, he was still allowed in the country, a Homeland Security official told CNN.
The CBP agent who processed his entry on May 24 has been placed on administrative duties while the investigation is continuing, the official said. (Watch how patient slipped past authorities )
XDR TB
XDR TB was recently defined as a subtype of multiple-drug resistant tuberculosis.
People with XDR TB are resistant to first- and second-line drugs; their treatment options are limited and the disease often proves fatal.
It can take between six and 16 weeks for a final diagnosis of XDR TB.
Between 1993 and 2006, 49 people were diagnosed with XDR TB in the United States, said Dr. Ken Castro, director of the division of TB Elimination at CDC, which is based in Atlanta.
The disease is more common elsewhere, he said. "When they looked, they found it in every single continent of the world," he said.
The World Health Organization estimates that there were almost half a million cases of multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis worldwide in 2004.
People with TB of the lungs, the organs most commonly affected, can spread the disease by coughing, sneezing or even talking.
"A person needs only to breathe in a small number of these germs to become infected (although only a small proportion of people will become infected with TB disease)," WHO said on its Web site. (Watch why passengers shouldn't be too alarmed )
"The risk of becoming infected increases, the longer the time that a previously uninfected person spends in the same room as the infectious case," it added.
Cure is possible for up to 30 percent of cases, it said.
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