Quarantine of a TB patient

He has drug-resistant TB and willfully disobeyed advice not to travel:

Federal and international officials are tracking down passengers and crew members on two trans-Atlantic flights earlier this month who may have been exposed to a man infected with an exceptionally dangerous form of tuberculosis.
The male passenger flew to Paris from his home in Atlanta on May 12 on Air France 385 and arrived in Paris on May 13. He returned to the United States on May 24 after taking Czech Air 104 to Montreal from Prague. The man drove into the United States that day and entered a hospital in New York City on May 25.
The man is now in an Atlanta hospital under federally enforced isolation after he was flown there from New York City on Monday in a plane owned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Comments

Anonymous
A hypothetical question to doctors about this:
“Contact passengers will be advised to undergo a medical evaluation and testing and then have follow-up tests 8 to 10 weeks later.”
Assuming the first test they do is the standard skin test, what tests do they do for people with a known prior positive reaction to this test? This is just curiosity from someone who hasn’t been nowhere near this flight, but who’s had a positive reaction before and is curious.
RJS
Depends what kind of test you had.
Anonymous
i wonder if this case will increase the rate at which we detain persons with suspected infectious disease in the future. ?
id sure feel safer.
Anonymous
“Depends what kind of test you had.”
A standard Mantoux (if I spell it correctly) test. It was positive, so I had an X-ray and it was fine. Since I was older at the time than whatever age guideline for preventive antibiotics, I wasn’t given any.
Mike
I had a lady come from Dominican Republic with a piece of paper saying she has pulmonary TB and AFB 4+ in her sputum.
When I asked her why she didnt stay in the DR to get treated, she said “My doctor in DR wanted to, but I just felt like I would get better care here”
So she booked an American Airlines flight, didnt wear a mask, got off the plane and came straight to the ER at my hospital. (DR to ER, as they say)
This is probably not uncommon and underreported. Can another TB epidemic in the US be far away.
Anonymous
The news tonight said that the current TB guy stated that he came back to the US from Europe b/c he would get better care here and better drugs. Where is the Michael Moore and single payer cheerleader crowd now? Maybe we should ship him to Cuba, according to Moore, he will have a higher survival rate over there
Anonymous
This is probably not uncommon and underreported. Can another TB epidemic in the US be far away.
Wonder if the rest of us should were masks in the airplanes “just in case”.
Jenn
A lawsuit was filed today for a man with XDR-TB patient. He has been in Maricopa County hospital jail ward because the sheriff deemed him medically necessary to be in quaratine even though he hasn’t been charged with any crime.
I would think that being non-compliant with medications or wearing a mask would count as a crime. People that know they are HIV positive have lost lawsuits for infecting others (not sure about any criminal charges).
I think with the latest national news, the AZ guy isn’t going to get a lot of sympathy. You can read the article here (free registeration):
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0530tbguy0530.html
Anonymous
I think what this selfish, egotistical jerk did is called assault with a deadly weapon. Don’t you get jail time for that?
Anonymous
First off in my eyes the guy was a shelfish jerk…. who makes Americans look REALLY BAD… what if he has infected a young child?? This thought just makes me SICK!!! secondly…. He is NOT a very worldly jerk…. For the fact of the matter is… he may have gotten even better care there in Europe… they are far more progressed in Medicine than we are in the US… and many new medications are more widely available there… Also he knew befor he left for Paris that he had this… but still chose to go anyway… there is NO EXCUSE for this behavior….
Anonymous
It seems he was not from a poor family at all…. he could have rented a private jet if this was that important…. being he had enough money to fly all over Europe… Then he would not have put other people in danger…
Happyman
i’ve heard he’s a personal injury lawyer – I can’t wait for the other passengers to sue his ass for exposing them, or even just worrying them too much, for “pain & suffering” damages.
how poetic.
KoKo
“Poetic”?
Plain dumb, I’d say.
KoKo
“what tests do they do for people with a known prior positive reaction to this test? “
I’ve had a (+) test twice, several years apart ( because I forgot about having the test the first time.
I’m followed by chest x-ray now, when and if I need a follow-up.
Anonymous
As a TB Nurse that worked for a Local County Health Office, this patient obviously knew he had XDR TB and decided to leave the country anyway, that is why the patient and his father taped the meeting with the MD. Also if the meeting was with his private MD the Local Health Officer has final jurisdicition over the case and would have been the person to have final approval or disapproval over his travel plans. Note the patient knew he had to seek treatment in Denver for XDR TB and decided to travel anyway which indicates the severity of the diagnosis. Also as an educated man he didn’t look into this subject on the web? Please. The way he secretly came back into the country also speaks volumes of his knowledge and desire to keep his travel a secret to the MD and Local Health Officer. This man obviosly knew and was a danger to the public but decided to travel with no concern to others.

Quarantine of a TB patient

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