posted May 31, 2007 06:10 PM            

TB Patient ID'd As Atlanta Lawyer

May 31 02:34 PM US/Eastern
By GREG BLUESTEIN
Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA (AP) - The honeymooner quarantined with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis was identified Thursday as a 31-year-old personal injury lawyer whose new father-in-law is a CDC microbiologist specializing in the spread of TB.
The father-in-law, Bob Cooksey, would not comment on whether he reported his son-in-law to federal health authorities. He said only that he gave 31-year-old Andrew Speaker "fatherly advice" when he learned the young man had contracted the disease.

The CDC had no immediate comment.

"I'm hoping and praying that he's getting the proper treatment, that my daughter is holding up mentally and physically," Cooksey told The Associated Press. "Had I known that my daughter was in any risk, I would not allow her to travel."

The son-in-law said in a newspaper interview that he knew he had TB when he flew from Atlanta to Europe in mid-May for his wedding and honeymoon, but that he did not find out until he was already in Rome that it was an extensively drug-resistant strain considered especially dangerous.

Despite warnings from federal health officials not to board another long flight, he flew home for treatment, fearing he wouldn't survive if he didn't reach the U.S., he said.

He was quarantined in the first such action taken by the federal government since 1963.

On Thursday, he was flown from Atlanta to Denver, accompanied by his wife and federal marshals, to be treated at Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Center.

He looked healthy and tan when he arrived, and "he said he still felt fine," hospital spokesman William Allstetter said. The chief of the hospital's infectious disease division said that Speaker is believed to be in the early stages of the disease, and that he is optimistic the patient can be cured.

Doctors planned to begin treating him immediately with two antibiotics, one oral and one intravenous. He also will undergo a test to evaluate how infectious he is and a CT scan and lung X-ray, Allstetter said.

Doctors hope to also determine where he contracted the disease, which has been found around the world and exists in pockets in Russia and Asia.

He will be kept in a special unit with a ventilation system to prevent the escape of germs. "He may not leave that room much for several weeks," Allstetter said.

According to a biography posted on a Web site connected with Speaker's law firm, the young lawyer attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in finance, then attended University of Georgia's law school.

His father, Ted Speaker, unsuccessfully ran for a Fulton County Superior Court judgeship in 2004, the same year his son was admitted into the Georgia Bar.

Andrew Speaker recently moved from an upscale condominium complex in anticipation of his wedding, former neighbors said. He also wrote in an application to become a board member of his condo association that he was going to Vietnam for five weeks as part of the Rotary club to act as an ambassador.

"He's a great guy. Gregarious," said Pam Hood, a former neighbor. "He's a wonderful guy. Just a very, very pleasant man."

Health officials in North America and Europe are now trying to track down about 80 passengers who sat near him on the two trans-Atlantic flights, and they want passenger lists from four shorter flights he took while in Europe.

However, other passengers are not considered at high risk of infection because tests indicated the amount of TB bacteria in the man was low, said Dr. Martin Cetron, director of the CDC's division of global migration and quarantine.

Among those being tested are more than two dozen University of South Carolina Aiken students, school spokeswoman Jennifer Lake said Thursday. Two were apparently sitting near him, possibly in the same row, she said.

One of those students, Laney Wiggins, said she is awaiting her skin test results, expected Friday.

"I'm very nervous," Wiggins told The (Columbia) State newspaper. "It's kind of sad that this is overshadowing the wonderful time we had in Europe."

Speaker told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he wasn't coughing and that doctors initially did not order him not to fly and only suggested he put off his long-planned wedding. "We headed off to Greece thinking everything's fine," he told the newspaper.

Dr. Charles Daley, head of the infectious disease division at National Jewish Hospital, said the hospital has treated two other patients with what appears to be the same strain of tuberculosis since 2000, although that strain had not been identified and named at the time. He said the patients had improved enough to be released.

"With drug-resistant tuberculosis, it's quite a challenge to treat this," Daley told CNN on Thursday. "The cure rate that's been reported in other places is very low. It's about 30 percent for XDR-TB."

"This is a different patient, though. We're told that this is very early in the course, and most of the time when we get patients that it's very extensive and very far advanced. So I think we're more optimistic," he said. "We're aiming for cure. We know it's an uphill battle, but we hope to get there."

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What I find to be upsetting about this is the fact that this person knowingly had TB and willingly put people in danger. Although the levels of TB were low in his bloodstream, no one is aware how many, if any became infected by his jetsetting.

Ironically, his FIL specializes in infectious diseases, name TB with the CDC. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/31/health/main2869316.shtml

His FIL knew about the TB but never report it, even after he knew his future Son in Law was traveling overseas.

Ohh... what if the strain comes out to be an exact match to what his new FIL works with? Hmmmm....

posted June 03, 2007 01:14 AM            

Really, what that guy did was thoughtless, selfish, reckless...it's criminal for him to have put other people's lives at risk the way he did.

posted June 04, 2007 03:05 AM              

Waiting for the TB test results I wanted to quarantine myself. Didn't want to be around my family and worried especially about my grand son who is only 2 yrs old and my husband who had part of a lung removed due to a cancerous tumor so his lungs are weak anyway.

posted June 04, 2007 05:22 AM            

Have your doctors looks at Mycoplasma?

The symptoms are usually a persistent cough, a wheeze (mostly at night and during cold weather) and low energy levels?

People that are exposed to areas such as Mexico and other warmer climates are susceptible to Mycoplasma- even though in contact with friends or family that have been on vacation in such areas could also be at risk.

I ask because my mother had this problem and they kept testing her for TB about 10 years ago. I was in the middle of my microbiology research when I asked her about some of her travels. It turned out that her doing charity work in Tijuana had exposed her to Mycoplasma- FINALLY she had a doc that believed her and put her on the right AB's. Still, the bacteria may not go away 100% so in later years, especially when exposed to other allergens, the bacteria may show up again.

Lesions or spots on the lungs are typical, especially when combined with a negative TB test.

Hugs Mirandee!!!

posted June 04, 2007 12:48 PM              

I do have all those symptoms but it could be that I just need to stop smoking. Many times doctors don't run tests because they want to blame everything on smoking.

Somedays, though my energy levels are almost zilch and I have to drag myself through the day and force myself to do things I have to do.

Don't know where I would have contacted Mycoplasma though, I don't get to travel much these days but if it is contagious I could have picked it up anywhere because I do come into contact with many people who do travel a lot.

Thanks for informing me about Mycoplasma, Pidaua. Otherwise I wouldn't even know such a thing existed.