TB Patient Is Related to C.D.C. Expert on Disease
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By ANAHAD O?CONNOR and JOHN HOLUSHA
Published: May 31, 2007
The man infected with a dangerous and hard-to-treat form of tuberculosis, who potentially exposed several hundred airline passengers to the disease, is the son-in-law of a microbiologist who studies tuberculosis at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
That disclosure came today after the man, identified as Andrew Speaker, a 31-year-old personal-injury lawyer from Georgia, was escorted from Atlanta by federal marshals to a hospital in Denver that specializes in treating respiratory illnesses. He was wearing a mask to prevent transmission of the disease, as were the marshals escorting him.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement this afternoon that Mr. Speaker?s father-in-law, Dr. Bob Cooksey, works for the C.D.C. in its division of tuberculosis elimination, where he studies the spread of tuberculosis and other bacteria.
But Dr. Cooksey insisted that neither he nor his laboratory was the source of Mr. Speaker?s tuberculosis infection.
?I?m a research microbiologist in C.D.C.?s Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, and my work does involve working with a wide range of organisms, including TB,? he said in the statement. ?As part of my job, I am regularly tested for TB. I do not have TB, nor have I ever had TB. My son-in-law?s TB did not originate from myself or the C.D.C.?s labs, which operate under the highest levels of biosecurity.?
Dr. Gwen Huitt, who is treating Mr. Speaker at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, said at a news conference this afternoon that Mr. Speaker had been placed in a negative-pressure room to inhibit the spread of germs while he undergoes diagnostic tests and antibiotic therapy.
Dr. Huitt said Mr. Speaker is likely to undergo treatment for ?weeks to months? because of the difficulty of dealing with the extensively drug-resistant strain of the disease. So far, she said, he has no symptoms, is not coughing and is ?of low infectivity.?
?He?s a young, healthy gentleman who was jogging every day and is quite fit and has no other health conditions,? she said. ?So I?m very optimistic that we will be able to help him tremendously.?
Dr. Huitt would not comment on whether Dr. Cooksey?s work could be connected to his son-in-law?s illness, but she said that after examining his history, it seemed possible that Mr. Speaker may have caught the disease overseas.
?He?s had some fairly extensive travel history over the past six years,? she said. ?So at this point in time we don?t have an idea where he has contracted this. He has traveled many places around the world.?
?Tuberculosis infects one-third of the world?s population,? she added, referring to the presence of any strain of tuberculosis bacteria in dormant form. ?This germ is very common.?
Mr. Speaker was the first patient to be placed in forced isolation by federal public health authorities in more than 40 years. He was isolated after he traveled to Europe for his wedding and honeymoon despite being advised that he had the disease. Health authorities said he posed a risk to airplane passengers, particularly on long trans-Atlantic flights.
Mr. Speaker has said that he was advised not to travel, but was not specifically forbidden to do so. The wedding and honeymoon had apparently been planned for a long time.
Dr. Huitt said Mr. Speaker?s tuberculosis was discovered after he suffered an injury to his ribs and went to a hospital. After an X-ray examination, doctors noticed an abnormality in Mr. Speaker?s lungs and referred him for further testing, which eventually revealed he had tuberculosis, although he had no noticeable symptoms.
William Allstetter, a spokesman for National Jewish, said he asked Mr. Speaker how he felt on arriving at the Denver hospital this morning, and he replied that he felt fine. ?He looked fine,? Mr. Allstetter said.
Meanwhile, public health officials are trying to locate the passengers that sat closest to Mr. Speaker on the trans-Atlantic flights, who are said to be at the most risk for infection. They will be asked to undergo testing for presence of the disease.
Doctors have said Mr. Speaker?s wife, who accompanied him on the private flight to Denver, apparently has not been infected.
Officials of the federal Centers for Disease Control said they contacted Mr. Speaker while he was on vacation in Italy after they learned that he carried the dangerous strain of the disease, and advised him to turn himself in to Italian health authorities.
Instead, he made his way to Prague, flew from there to Montreal, and then drove across the border into New York, to avoid being stranded outside the country by his name appearing on a United States no-fly list. Once in New York City, he was persuaded to go to a hospital, and has been cooperating with federal health authorities since then.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/health/31cnd-tb.html
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