Quarantined Man's Father-In-Law A Tuberculosis Specialist At CDC

[gatorboy]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070531/tuberculosis-infection/

ATLANTA — A globe-trotting Atlanta lawyer with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis was allowed back into the U.S. by a border inspector who disregarded a computer warning to stop him and don protective gear, officials said Thursday. The inspector has been removed from border duty.

The unidentified inspector explained that he was no doctor but that the infected man seemed perfectly healthy and that he thought the warning was merely "discretionary," officials briefed on the case told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is still under investigation.

The patient was identified as Andrew Speaker, a 31-year-old personal injury lawyer who returned last week from his wedding and honeymoon trip through Italy, the Greek isles and other spots in Europe. His new father-in-law, Robert C. Cooksey, is a CDC microbiologist whose specialty is TB and other bacteria.

Cooksey would not comment on whether he reported his son-in-law to federal health authorities. Nor did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explain how the case came to their attention. However, Cooksey said that neither he nor his CDC laboratory was the source of his son-in-law's TB.

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Oh, really...

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Does seem fishy that his fil is a TB specialist and yet there is no connection

[DemBones DemBones]

3. His father-in-law would know that Speaker having TB endangers his daughter,

the new Mrs. Speaker. I doubt he knew Speaker had it. If he had, being the head TB honcho at the CDC, he could have kept Speaker from leaving the country by notifying Homeland Security.

I don't know for sure, but I would think the CDC would stop any TB patient from traveling if they knew about the person having TB, just "regular" TB. TB is a danger to others, especially people with other health problems.

[DemBones DemBones]

2. It infuriates me that he didn't think he could get good medical care in Rome.

Italy probably outdoes the US in many measures of population health.

He's certainly put his wife at risk, if not all the other people he came in contact with. Unbelievably selfish or unbelievably stupid.

"Andrew Speaker recently moved from an upscale condominium complex in anticipation of his wedding, former neighbors said. He also wrote in an application to become a board member of his condo association that he was going to Vietnam for five weeks as part of the Rotary Club to act as an ambassador."

Does that mean he went to Vietnam or not?

"Doctors hope also to determine where he contracted the disease, which has been found around the world and exists in pockets in Russia and Asia."

Vietnam is definitely in Asia.

[youngdem]

5. Dude, with all due respect, I lived in Rome, and you do NOT want to go to a Roman hospital

I lived there in the Summer of 1994. I had two encounters with the hospital there, and it was fucking frightening. The facilities were from the 1950's and this was a Roman hospital right off of the Campidoglio. The friggin nurses were SMOKING and there was VERY little modern equipment in the ER, nor was there any sense of competence from the staff. They were in typical Roman fashion too busy or too cool to help you, which is charming until you need immediate medical service.

I grew up in Southern Louisiana, and the hospitals here looked like Star Trek compared to the Italian Hospital.

Now, I am sure things have improved, but medical care is occasionally more 'rustic' the further south you go in Europe.

Italy's gains in health over the US is probably due to genes and lifestyle. I can't imagine it's based on healthcare availability.

[AnnieBW]

4. I wonder what the family dinners will be like at THAT house?

That guy's going to NEED to be in quarantine from his FIL!

[partylessinOhio]

6. What is the real story behind this fish story?

Speaker was moved to Jewish Hospital in Denver with a camera crew flying along over the ambulance.

There he was supposed to be treated with drugs which cost $500,000 per course of treatment. If that didn't work he was to have surgery. This Jewish Hospital is famous for treating TB for a hundred years by taking out parts of the patients lungs.

This evening I heard that Speaker is at the Jewish Hospital to have this surgery where parts of his lungs will be removed.

What is the real story?

[crappyjazz]

7. Something smells

big time ... a border inspector decides who is healthy or not through the car window? need to start doing some research ... who does Andrew Speaker know? check his political contibutions? :rofl: