TB victim's father-in-law is TB researcher for the CDC!?!

[CoffeeCat]

Last night Anderson Cooper reported that the father-in-law of the TB victim is a CDC epidemiologist
--and that his life's work is studying and researching TB!

I'm trying real hard to keep my tinfoil hat off, but it's difficult.

How can this be a mere coincidence?

Does anyone else feel a bit creeped out by this?

[TahitiNut]

1. New father-in-law, not father.

Yep.

[CoffeeCat]

2. Yes...

...Thanks for the correction TahitiNut--the victim's FATHER-IN-LAW (not his father, as I stated)
is a CDC researcher who works with TB.

I still feel the same urge to don my tinfoil hat...

I'll correct my original post.

[sharp_stick]

6. I know it's an odd coincidence

but the strain that the guy has isn't that uncommon around the world and I understand he travelled extensively. If he picked it up at the CDC it would have been reported.

I can see no reason not report a lab infection unless he was in the labs without permission. Not reporting it would end the Father in Law's career and it wouldn't be hard to find out if that's where it came from.

I really do understand the tinfoil hat though, my imagination started to go into overdrive.

[originalpckelly]

15. Why did the folks at the 3 Mile Island say there was no release of radiation...

when there was a release of radiation?

They were afraid of oversight, they were afraid of a public reaction. Could you imagine what would happen to the CDC if containment was breached and then someone traveled around the world possibly infecting other people?

That would cause a Congressional hearing in a heartbeat, and rightfully so.

China covered up SARS for a while, why would they do that?

Unfortunately, a trait of authoritarian governments is that they don't give damn about public health, only how their power might be affected by it.

[Warpy]

3. Yes, something really smells here

because I smell a "how we met" story, among other things. Extremely resistant TB cases would be referred to the CDC immediately on diagnosis.

because everybody with active TB is taught about wearing a mask when around other people.

because the public health system in this country has been gutted and any TB researcher worth his paycheck would be looking for a way to wake people up that TB is no longer completely curable.

There are quite a few things about this story that don't quite add up.

[Kber]

4. It does seem like a rather large coincidence, doesn't it?

Especially since the father-in-law isn't infected, so he couldn't have passed it on after contracting it accidentally in the lab.

Just seems odd.

[Coyote_Bandit]

5. What is not being reported

is that there is another young guy being confined with drug resistant TB. Recent case.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/06/142246

[sharp_stick]

8. Drug resistant TB along with other drug resistant bacteria

are not that uncommon and are slowly but surely becoming less and less uncommon. Organims such as Methicillin Resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and Vancomycin Resistent Enterobacter (VRE) are seen regularly in hospitals thoroughout the country.

The bad thing about the TB strain is that it is a lot easier to die from it than either MRSA or VRE, I don't know if you can simply remain a carrier.

[originalpckelly]

12. TB is very odd in it's progression and it actually infects 1/3 of the world...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuberculosis

It definitely can be carried and actually is carried in most cases. In other words, most people who become infected with TB do not actually get sick as we would understand it.

So while the father may say he's regularly tested, he could in all reality be carrying it in a dormant state.

[Beelzebud]

7. Why do I keep thinking of 12 Monkeys as this story unfolds?

[originalpckelly]

9. The father-in-law says he's regularly tested and has never contracted the disease...

but I'm willing to bet on the ability of life to adapt. I wouldn't be surprised if the father is a carrier of TB or something.

The CDC can do genetic tests on the TB infecting the son and tests on the strains the father was working with to determine if they are related somehow. Bacteria do have DNA after all, and in fact TB's genetic code has already been fully sequenced. So it's definitely possible.

From Wikipedia:
"M. tuberculosis is an obligate aerobe (Gram-positive mycobacterium). While mycobacteria do not seem to fit the Gram-positive category from an empirical standpoint (i.e. they do not retain the crystal violet stain), they are classified as an acid-fast Gram positive bacterium due to their lack of an outer cell membrane.<1> M. tuberculosis divides every 15 to 20 hours—extremely slowly compared to other bacteria, which tend to have division times measured in minutes (for example, E. coli can divide roughly every 20 minutes). It is a small, rod-like bacillus that can withstand weak disinfectants and can survive in a dry state for weeks but can grow only within a host organism."

That might mean this TB could have survived on an external surface and because of that, it might be possible that the son-in-law became strangely infected by that TB.

[quiet.american]

10. That the TB-infected guy is a personal injury lawyer also made me shake my head.

I mean -- you'd think he'd be the first one to realize the kind of lawsuits he might be in for from people who may have had contact with him.

Another thing that seems off is that the father-in-law doesn't seem at all worried about whether his daughter may have been infected; and what about the wedding guests and wedding officiants -- people at the hotel where they honeymooned? Why is the gub'ment only trying to track down the airline passengers who had contact with him? This story is VERY strange.

[originalpckelly]

11. Yes, it is possibly one of the strangest stories I've seen in a while...

involving biology of some type.

I think we're probably going to find that it's not just a co-incidence that the father-in-law works on TB and his son-in-law became infected with it. The son-in-law probably had a lot of contact with the father-in-law leading up to the wedding, so this becomes very possible.

[Supersedeas]

13. that's one of them there....co - innn - si - dennn - sie's (and it sure made a Media splash)

[havocmom]

14. Yep, SiL of CDC TB specialist got on several planes with horrible form of TB

but my daughter could not take a 6 oz jar of preserves on a plane because it was a terrorist threat.

Something tells me the DHS is not really as interested in homeland security as in theater.

[jebediah]

16. we need the social-interest reports at the big networks to get on this

right away. Why did the in-laws want this guy dead? Or who's setting up the Father-in-law? Did the Mother-in-law frame her husband with the murderous deed? What's the insurance angle? Who has the videos?

I think we may need to convert C-Span for this one!

[CoffeeCat]

17. I'll say something else that bothers me...

...again, I know this is tin foil. I understand that. It's not
like I'm lining my windows with duct tape and plastic sheeting,
but I'd say there are some things to think about.

I'm concerned that Junior recently sewed up his dictatorial powers
in the event of a "national emergency". If there is some sort of
pandemic or outbreak, he automatically becomes all powerful and
the rest of government is moot.

That recently became a done deal.

Maybe Junior will leave office peacefully and quietly--and this will all
be remembered as a big nightmare.

However, in the back of my mind--I'm wondering what's going on, because
I don't trust Junior and his unstable mind. I'm wondering why he was so
deliberate and concise about what happens in a "national emergency"--specifically
as it relates to his own power. Nothing about care of the American people, or
nothing about how supplies are distributed or how plans are coordinated with local
agencies or volunteer organizations. It was all about Junior and what the
"national emergency" means to him.

So, when I hear that a TB researchers' son-in-law is not only positive
for a deadly form of TB---and that he's also flying around the world
and taking SEVERAL flights around the globe--it ignites several question
marks. This story is a bit bizarre. I'm not getting why a very educated man
(an attorney) would fly all over the place and expose himself to so many
people--when he had been told that he was infected with TB. He risked his new
wife's life, and all of his closest friends and family--at his wedding. Maybe
the guy is a dullard. However, his father was defending him as intelligent
and "the most caring person I've ever met" on national telelvision. Things
just don't jive--and when things don't jive that means that someone is lying.

This story does not make sense. It really doesn't.

It just bothers me that there is a US government connection to the TB
victim, who is at the epicenter of all of this. We live in really bizarre
times, and I'm not sure what Junior and the rest of the gang are capable of.

So, that makes many situations--that might be perfectly explainable or
benign--fodder for a bit of paranoia.

Again, I'll go on about my week without buying plastic sheeting, but this
administration has left me a bit hypervigilant.

[NashVegas]

18. It's the STAND!

Let's all go to Colorado.

[Cheap_Trick]

20. meanwhile..

repugs will gather in Las Vegas. Hmmm...is Randall Flagg actually running this country, taking the form of *?

[Horse with no Name]

19. It bothers me because none of it adds up

It was a HIPAA violation to release the man's name...yet it was on all of the networks.
Who really wants to be labeled the "Man with deadly TB"...seems that might trigger violence to him and his family. THEN we are told at which facility he will be treated. Something doesn't "feel right" about a personal injury attorney wanting all this stuff leaked about him. Seems like he would try to keep the details private so that it didn't open him up to personal liability.
None of it makes sense. None of it...from the tiniest detail to the largest.
Something wicked this way comes...:scared:

[Horse with no Name]

21. I posted this a few weeks back

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=688025&mesg_id=688025