PHA: Federal Officials are looking for passengers from 12 May Air France Flight

[denna]

Excerpt from article:

The CDC director announced Tuesday that federal health officials are looking for people who may have been seated near the man during the two trans-Atlantic flights. (XDR TB leaves doctors with few treatment options)

He departed Atlanta on May 12 aboard Air France Flight 385 and arrived in Paris the next day, she said at the news conference. He returned last Thursday to North America aboard Czech Air Flight 0104 from Prague, Czech Republic, to Montreal, Canada, then drove into the United States.

Link to article:http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/05/30/tb.flight/index.html

Man knew he had TB before flying to Europe

ETR: Article!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[buddyleebaby]

So, he knows he has TB and should not fly. He does anyway. Then he complains he does not trust the medical care in Italy, and thinks the CDC should pay for him to come home. But they don't move quickly enough, so he flies, again.

This has to be the most selfish man on the planet.

[denna]

My favorite part was how he said he had no idea he had XDR TB and that he didnt know he wasnt allowed to fly just thought it was 'advised'. But then he later says that he flew into Canada because he knew was on the US 'No Fly' List.

I agree a VERY selfish man. I hope no one else contracted the TB.

[Sillygirl]

>
>I agree a VERY selfish man. I hope no one else contracted the
>TB.

If someone did catch it, the man is beyond selfish. He should be charged with attempted murder.

[nov04]

very selfish and arrogant. CDC hasn't quarantined in 40 years, he's the first and he's still confused why there's an armed guard outside his room????

[bostonsmama]

Agreed...so selfish. I pray he doesn't die from this likely fatal strand of the infection so they can prosecute him if anyone else dies.

Just proves that we need a bit more cooperation and communication between branches of the government (foreign and domestic) so we can catch these people at immigration & customs checkpoints overseas. I think if the CDC could tap into the database, we could catch and contain potential outbreaks when a severe health alert is issued.

L

[jgriffin]

What I haven't heard anything about is his new wife. I mean, she's now at risk for contracting TB, plus her husband has this nasty disease he might die from. I wonder if she is quarantined, too.

It's really too bad the US wasn't able to put him on the no-fly list as soon as the diagnosis was made, since he was obviously too selfish, or stupid, to postpone/cancel his trip.

[kijip]

I heard on NPR this afternoon that at this point the man is in Denver, getting care and that he is not considered contagious any longer. Also, he is considered otherwise healthy- it did not seem that he was going to die.

Interestingly, his FIL works for the CDC as a TB researcher? Wild.

[himom]

Apparently he was on the no-fly list and a border agent took it upon himself to let him in anyway. One has to wonder if money changed hands.

AND this guy is evidently a personal injury lawyer!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18960857/

[brittone2]

yeah, but they are denying, denying, denying any connection to the FIL caused the TB. Uh huh.

[Sillygirl]

TB in a form that's infectious is actually really hard to transport. The infectious droplets are generated when someone with a lot of bacteria in the lung breathes out. The moisture evaporates and you're left with floating bacteria in a small amount of moisture. His FIL couldn't have carried it home on his clothes, for example, or even maliciously on a slide or in a test tube. Add to that the patient's recent travel to a number of countries where TB is common, and I think it's reasonable to believe the FILs job is just a coincidence.

[denna]

Did it say that he made certain travels before he was diagnosed or after?

[brittone2]

I hear you. However, to me it seems rather unlikely from a statistical standpoint that someone would contract this form of TB. The odds of someone with a family member that contracts it and also works at the CDC would be pretty gosh darn rare. Having someone contract it, and then also have a family member that works at the CDC specifically on TB seems from a statistical standpoint, hard to explain by pure chance. But then again, hitting the powerball jackpot isn't exactly common but it happens, so there you go.

[emilyf]

I agree-when I read about his FIL this am it seems like a pretty unbelievable coincidence. Lots of people travel to Asia, but not so many have close contact w/someone doing research on TB for the CDC. I feel bad for the guy honestly, I don't think he looked or felt sick, in fact the TB was found at a routine checkup and he had a wedding planned. He says he did not know how bad a strain he had when he left. Seems like he could have had some better guidance/advice from his fil.
Emily mom of Charlie born 11/02 and Zoe born 9/05

[ellies mom]

Yes, but he knew it was a bad strain when he chose to fly back, into Canada from a country other than Italy so he could avoid the No-Fly list. And considering they advised him not to fly before he left the US, I'm not sure that advice from his FIL would have made much of a difference.

It really comes down to him being arrogant and selfish. He was told not to fly not once but twice and did it anyways. It is too bad that the people who only advised him not to fly to Europe in the first place didn't realize that he was a selfish person who would ignore their advice. He is trying to say that they should have ordered him to not to fly instead. But based on his actions in Italy, I'm sure he would have ignored that as well.

I don't feel bad for him in the least. I feel bad for the people who do not know if they sat near him on one of those flights or not and now have to worry about whether they will get sick also.

I don't feel sorry for the border guard that made the decision to let him through because "he looked healthy enough". Yep, I feel secure.

[shilo]

there are so many things that are just SO wrong about this on SO many levels.

in the interview he gave this morning in the denver hospital, he's essentially saying 'officials only told me they'd PREFER i didn't fly' and i'm thinking "yeah, right". but then it comes out that his father/lawyer was there and TAPED that conversation with officials?!?

“My father said, ‘OK, now are you saying, prefer not to go on the trip because he’s a risk to anybody, or are you simply saying that to cover yourself?’ And they said, we have to tell you that to cover ourself, but he’s not a risk.�

if that's seriously what's on that tape, i hope it's already been taken into evidence and those 'officials' are dealt with appropriately as well.

but then later in the same interview, after going on and on about how sorry he is and how he really didn't think it was dangerous, he's saying "Before I left, I knew that it was made clear to me, that in order to fight this, I had one shot, and that was going to be in Denver,� he said. If doctors in Europe tried to treat him and it went wrong, he said, “it’s very real that I could have died there.�

ok, fine, i might have found myself feeling abandoned and scared witless as well, but seriously - you're telling me someone of the resources of these two families that can plan a tens of thousands of dollars greek isles wedding couldn't afford to hire a private medivac flight back to the states?

his doctors are saying he's young and healthy and has a good shot at fighting this off. yeah well what about the babies and seniors and immune-compromised individuals he exposed.

so selfish is right. it's bad enought that we're all probably exposed to things in this world on accident, let alone with knowing intent. i sincerely hope for his sake that all those passengers he exposed continue to be healthy and that this can be made into a learning experience for all of the agencies that clearly scr3w3d the proverbial pooch here.

sorry to ramble. this just has me so disappointed in people today.
lori
Sam 5/19/05 How lucky I am that you chose me.

[bostonsmama]

Amen, sister. Sing it! I agree with everything you just said and more.

[HannaAddict]

I thought he was incredibly selfish too. And I'm so sorry he had to turn out to be a lawyer! Like we don't get enough scorn as it is. :)

Kimberly