"Drew" Speaker, and every public-health office and official he encountered in the past couple of weeks, are now at the center of a serious controversy. The best single story that summarizes what we know so far appeared in this morning's New York Times. In addition to a full account of Speaker's travels and discussions with public-health officers, John Schwartz asks all the right questions:- "Why would a well-informed person aware of medical concerns get on an airplane after receiving a diagnosis of a disease that could be fatal to others?"
- "Why would he flee from health authorities once the diagnosis became even more grave?"
- "How could the man’s father-in-law, an expert in tuberculosis at the C.D.C., accede to the trip?"
- What does this saga tell us about the legal and practical gaps in our ability to limit the public's exposure to an infected individual, especially one with a motive -- whether benign or malicious -- to be evasive?
- How much freedom -- of movement, from surveillance -- will Americans tolerate in order to limit their exposure to infectious disease?
One of the more interesting lessons of this story revolves around Speaker's decision -- which he admits, "In hindsight, maybe it wasn't the best decision" -- to ignore the CDC's instruction not to fly home from Rome on a commerical airliner:
He said that when he was contacted by a representative of the Centers for Disease Control in Rome, he was told that he could not fly home unless he chartered a plane — at a cost of $100,000 — and that he should check into a local hospital. “I felt very abandoned,” he said, emphasizing that he firmly believed he could not infect others. He said he feared he might end up “stuck in an Italian hospital indefinitely, where I could die.”
As Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist who directs the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, observed:
“Short of a military state where you have 24/7 surveillance on someone, you have to count on the good will of the individual.
He called this a fact of life in an open society, one that could lead to major problems in an outbreak of pandemic influenza, in which many people would probably be boarding planes knowing they were sick to get away from an epidemic. “They would say, ‘I want to make sure I get out,’ ” whatever the risk to others. In that kind of situation, he said, the public health system would inevitably be unable to keep up.
There are a couple of AP stories today that add to what we know about Speaker:
- TB Lawyer Called 'Pillar' of Community photo
ATLANTA (AP) - The story of how Andrew Speaker met his future bride still draws laughs from his friends. The young attorney met Sarah Spence Cooksey, an aspiring lawyer, at an Atlanta pub and handed her his fancy business card. When she called, she asked for "Mr. Speaker." But the man she ended up... - TB Patient Faces 2 Months in Hospital photo
DENVER (AP) - The man quarantined with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis will likely spend up to two months in a hospital while he receives a battery of antibiotics and is evaluated for possible surgery, his doctors said. Andrew Speaker is the first infected person quarantined by the U.S....
The most comprehensive coverage of this story seems to be over at the Harvard Public Health School's World Health News site. Here are the stories they've featured:
- Man With TB Apologizes for Putting Others at Risk
Lawrence K. Altman and John Holusha (The New York Times, June 1, 2007)
"The Atlanta lawyer who flew on crowded airplanes while infected with a dangerous form of tuberculosis said today he did not think he presented a danger when he flew and he apologized to his fellow passengers." See also: TB Treatment a 'Challenge,' Doctor Says (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 1, 2007) - Agent at Border, Aware, Let In Man With TB
Lawrence K. Altman (The New York Times, June 1, 2007)
"The man with a dangerous form of tuberculosis who flew to Europe for his wedding and honeymoon was identified yesterday as a 31-year-old Atlanta lawyer. Department of Homeland Security officials said he re-entered the country from Canada when a customs agent let him pass despite knowing that the man was being sought by health authorities." Free registration required. - Case of TB Traveler Reveals Holes in Global Disease Control
Elisabeth Rosenthal (International Herald Tribune, May 31, 2007)
"The U.S. health authorities failed to notify their Italian counterparts that an American tourist with an extremely dangerous form of tuberculosis was staying in a Rome hotel this month until he was leaving the country, Italian officials said Thursday. That time lapse allowed him to leave Rome and fly to Prague and Montreal, potentially exposing dozens of people to an often lethal germ." - TB Patient's Father-in-Law a CDC Microbiologist
(Associated Press, May 31, 2007)
"The honeymooner quarantined with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis was identified Thursday as a 31-year-old Atlanta personal injury lawyer whose new father-in-law is a CDC microbiologist specializing in the spread of TB and other bacteria." - Near Misses Allowed Man With Tuberculosis to Fly
Lawrence K. Altman and John Schwartz (The New York Times, May 31, 2007)
"A series of 'understandable' near misses accounted for a Georgia man’s odyssey to Europe in which he might have exposed fellow passengers on a series of commercial flights to an exceptionally dangerous form of tuberculosis, federal officials said [Wednesday]." Free registration required. - Isolating an Evasive TB Patient
Editorial (The New York Times, May 31, 2007)
"Congressional oversight committees ought to examine whether health officials dropped the ball -- and what steps can be taken to ensure that patients infected with deadly contagious diseases protect others from infection." Free registration required. - Earlier:
CDC May 29 Media Relations Telebriefing Transcript
Atlantan Quarantined with Deadly TB Strain (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 30, 2007) Free registration required.
CDC Warns of Possible TB Exposure on Atlanta-Paris Flight (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 29, 2007) Free registration required.
No comments:
Post a Comment