All 26 Americans Who Sat Nearest TB Patient Found

[Demeter]

Source: Washington Post


All 26 Americans Who Sat Nearest TB Patient Found
Officials Will Monitor Airline Passengers Potentially Exposed to 'Extensively Drug-Resistant' Strain

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 2, 2007; A03



Public health authorities have found all 26 Americans who sat near a man infected with untreated "extensively drug-resistant" tuberculosis on a transatlantic flight last month and will be able to test them for exposure to the often-fatal organism, federal officials said yesterday.

The man's good health and the small amount of TB bacteria in his lungs make it unlikely that he infected anyone on the round-trip flights to Europe, which he took against medical advice. However, it will take at least two months to rule that out -- or to discover that he did infect someone.

In the interim, the exposed people who are under surveillance should not think that they -- unlike the TB-infected traveler -- can infect anyone, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Julie L. Gerberding, said yesterday...There were 435 passengers on an Atlanta-to-Paris flight that the infected man and his fiancee took on May 12. (The couple were going to Europe to be married on a Greek island and then honeymoon in Italy.) Of that total, 310 were U.S. citizens or residents.

Health authorities, however, are most interested in people sitting in the man's row and in two rows in front of and behind him -- a zone where studies have shown passengers are at greatest risk in such situations. There were 26 Americans in that zone. On the return trip, a Prague-to-Montreal flight on May 24, the couple were the only Americans in the potential exposure zone.

How many countries had citizens among the approximately 50 people in the exposure zone on the outgoing flight, and the 30 exposed on the return flight, is unknown. Gerberding said she did not know how many of those people have been found, although she said that Canada had located all 28 of its citizens who sat in the zone...The exposed passengers will undergo skin testing for TB now, and again in eight to 10 weeks.
....Exactly how people in that situation would be treated was not available yesterday.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/01/AR2007060100528_pf.html

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Just HOW did this pillar of the community get infected, hmmm?

[donsu]

1. that's what I want to know too. who gave him the TB?

nt

[LisaL]

4. Since TB is airborn, it's not going to be easy to find that out.

Is't not an STD, where you can find contacts. The man also traveled to Asia.
I would think he most likely got it while traveling outside US.

[kurth]

17. Prolonged or intimate exposure is required

according to news reports.

[partylessinOhio]

2. Good question and why is this not even being discussed?

If it was so important to find those who sat near TB man on the planes, why no urgency to find the source of the TB?

Where did it come from? Was the FIL the source? If the source was the CDC itself is there a coverup?

How was this supposed case of super TB found anyway? I haven't heard that reported.

The whole story is fuzzy and I still suspect it was manufactured to keep America scared. "Be afraid, be very afraid."

If the public is so frightened of TB they cannot possibly think of the war and the destruction of our country.

[kestrel91316]

3. The FIL isn't the source. They use high level biosecurity at labs

that work with TB - respiratory protection, gloves, exhaust hoods, etc. And the employees are frequently tested to make sure they haven't picked it up on the job (OSHA, you know!).

My money is on the FIL having been ruled out as the source WAY BACK IN JANUARY when "TB Andy" was first diagnosed. It would have been one of the first places to look, lol.

[Bitwit1234]

5. Back in the fifties.....

my mother was found to have TB. Those of us who lived with her, ate, and were kissed by her were tested. NOne of us had any thing that the doctor said would lead to us developing it. Of course she had the regular kind. She spent 15 months in a sanitarium and never had a problem after. And none of us kids did either.

So I don't think TB could be contacted by casual contact, if we did not even contact the germ by intimate contact.

[LisaL]

6. Yet millions of people have been exposed to it and

thousands die every year around the world.
It's an airborne infection, and some will get and some will not if exposed to it. It's not highly infectious.

[OwnedByFerrets]

7. I still dont understand why this is newsworthy.....

what about all the thousands of other ppl he interacted with during his time with this illness? Do we round them up too?

[LisaL]

9. I presume his relatives and other people he came in contact with,

such as his co-workers, have been tested already.

[OwnedByFerrets]

10. What about all the ppl he was in line with? nt

[LisaL]

11. They are concerned about people who spend a long time (

hours) in contact with him, not those who briefly met him.

[Cerridwen]

8. Can you guess which passage in the above article makes me

a bit queasy? Under "normal" circumstances, people who are in a questionable state health-wise and are kept overnight in the hospital or who may have been exposed to a bacterium or dangerous substance are said to be "under observation." In this article, however,

...the exposed people who are under surveillance... (emphasis added)

Maybe it's just a poor choice of words. But, it gives an entirely different read than "under observation."

[ejbr]

12. I don't mean to be a dick, but

this has got to be one of the STUPIDEST men I have ever heard about! Not only is he oblivious to the fact that TB can be transmitted to another person through air (which I guess I can let pass), but his FATHER-IN-LAW SPECIALIZES in this shit and he decides not to give him a jingle to make sure everything is copacetic. Now his wife's dad looks like a fool, although he was never given the opportunity to give him his opinion on the matter before the flight! Also, the people who "suggested" that he not fly need to have their licenses revoked.

[kurth]

18. Andrew Speaker's only regret is that his chances of becoming a politician

are now zero.

[Vinnie From Indy]

19. Not only does this guy's NEW Father - in - law specialize

in the area of TB, he specializes in exactly these highly deadly strains FOR THE CDC!!!!!! The odds of that happening randomly is so far off the charts that I would think that the father should be looked at very closely for any part in the contraction of the disease.

[ejbr]

22. Interesting angle. Thanks for that tidbit! n/t

[flamingyouth]

13. A friend of mine was on the Atlanta-Paris flight.

He tested negative but it's been somewhat harrowing, to say the least.

[LisaL]

14. They will have to test him again.

That's what they say-these people will be tested for some time to come.

[flamingyouth]

15. Yeah, that's what I understand.

I just found out about it yesterday (by email) and haven't actually talked to him or his wife (she wasn't on the flight) yet, but they have been pretty worried. Hopefully he didn't give it to *anyone.*

[LisaL]

16. It does not sound right now that the man is highly contagious,

so that's good news.

[hedgehog]

20. That's what I was wondering about. The test doesn't look for the bacillus,

it looks for a reaction to the bacillus to see if your immune system has already been exposed. It's like the test for HIV; a test immediatley after exposure can give a false neagative.

[LisaL]

21. I think right now they are trying to establish a baseline.

Even if someone tests positive right now it will be from a previous exposure.
If they are negative right now but will test positive in a few months then they will know they were exposed to XDR-TB.
So, I don't think the positive results are even expected right now.