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June 8, 2007:
The case of a lawyer in Atlanta, the United
States, who flew to and from Europe while on his
honeymoon with a rare form of tuberculosis, is
currently a topic of hot of debate and
finger-pointing among government officials in the
US.
The public has levelled a great deal of criticism
at the US authorities for having committed the
serious slip-up.
A global health alert was triggered in May 2007
when 31-year-old Andrew Speaker and his new bride,
after getting married in Europe, flew around
Europe and to Canada before driving back into the
United States at a border crossing into New York
state.
Public health and homeland security officials in
the United States have admitted to slip-ups in
their handling of the Andrew Speaker tuberculosis
case, media reports say.
At two congressional hearings this week, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
conceded that mistakes were made that exacerbated
an international health alert regarding the
Atlanta lawyer who, while on his honeymoon flew to
and from Europe with a rare form of tuberculosis.
The actions of the CDC, along with those of US
health and border security officials, have raised
public concern over just how competent the
authorities are when it comes to dealing with such
circumstances and protecting the public.
It was on May 18 that Centers for Disease Control
officials first learned Speaker had extensively
drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB).
On his part, Andrew Speaker insists that he was
never told he posed a risk to others and that
health officials whom he met never wore protective
masks.
However, health authorities insist that Speaker
was told he had a rare, hard-to-treat form of TB
and was asked not to travel.
The couple had traveled to Paris and then onto
Rome, Athens, the Greek islands and Prague before
flying to Montreal. They then returned to the
United States via the Canadian border.
US Congress debated the issue on June 6 during two
separate hearings about the circumstances of
Andrew Speaker’s unchecked global tour. Concerns
raised at the congressional session included: As
federal screeners at airport scan passengers for
weapons and explosives, who is looking out for
serious potential health threats? Worse, could
authorities stop terrorists seeking to import
infectious diseases?
The accusations among the Centers for Disease
Control, the Department of Homeland Security and
Andrew Speaker himself underline the troubling
fact that, even as rates of deadly diseases like
drug-resistant TB are on the rise, both public
health and national security officials may be
ill-equipped to stop their spread.
BY OUR PHARMA CORRESPONDENT
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