Tuberculosis Case (TB)

[Scooter]

This guy is a selfish piece of sh*t!!!!!!! How dare him! I stayed home for an entire month in April when my children had chickenpocks. They are also airborne and I made sure no pregnant women in Target were going to be exposed.

 

[newyorker]

When I'm not an administrator, my academic research is medical history, so I've been following this story closely. First--physician friends of mine have been predicting the spread of drug resistent TB for years--med students working with AIDS patients in the early years of that epidemic picked up nasty strains of TB; and the strains grew more virulent when the populations being treated for TB (often homeless, mentally ill people) didn't take their meds (treating even ordinary TB requires at least 6 months of on-going therapy). Like the years before antibiotics, medical personnel will bear some of the worst exposure.
But the rest of us are very vulnerable too. There are lots of issues that are not easily resolved. One of the big ones revolves around civil liberties (quarantine is essentially being arrested); do we absolutely require that people get treated for infectious diseases (we now allow people to opt out of vaccinations); Mr. Speaker could wind up on permanent quarantine like Typhoid Mary. Don't get me wrong--personally, I want to protect the public's health, but I'm sure there will be lots of discussion from libertarian types for whom public health oversight is considered an unwelcome intervention.
A wonderful book on TB patients in the last epidemic: Barbara Bates: Bargaining for Life. (about the experience of being a TB patient when the treatment was a sanatarium--patients then were not always cooperative either.)

 

[Beach Runner]

You know, now that I think of it, my daughter's pediatrician did a TB test every year during her annual physical. But the last time she had a TB test was for her college physical, and frankly I can't remember the last time I had a TB test.

Note to self: make sure we have TB tests during our next physicals.

 

[iwishiwasthere]

I live in a small town with many Hispanic immigrants. The officials are often talking about the risk of TB. They said that WalMart and other high traffic businesses are prime locations to get the virus. Rather scary!

 

[Smiling JOe]

I live in a small town with many Hispanic immigrants. The officials are often talking about the risk of TB. They said that WalMart and other high traffic businesses are prime locations to get the virus. Rather scary!

:roll:Another good reason to not go past the Oulet Mall or Lake Powell.

Good Morning America has the exclusive story (whatever that means) tomorrow morning.

 

[Rudyjohn]

When I'm not an administrator, my academic research is medical history, so I've been following this story closely. First--physician friends of mine have been predicting the spread of drug resistent TB for years--med students working with AIDS patients in the early years of that epidemic picked up nasty strains of TB; and the strains grew more virulent when the populations being treated for TB (often homeless, mentally ill people) didn't take their meds (treating even ordinary TB requires at least 6 months of on-going therapy). Like the years before antibiotics, medical personnel will bear some of the worst exposure.
But the rest of us are very vulnerable too. There are lots of issues that are not easily resolved. One of the big ones revolves around civil liberties (quarantine is essentially being arrested); do we absolutely require that people get treated for infectious diseases (we now allow people to opt out of vaccinations); Mr. Speaker could wind up on permanent quarantine like Typhoid Mary. Don't get me wrong--personally, I want to protect the public's health, but I'm sure there will be lots of discussion from libertarian types for whom public health oversight is considered an unwelcome intervention.
A wonderful book on TB patients in the last epidemic: Barbara Bates: Bargaining for Life. (about the experience of being a TB patient when the treatment was a sanatarium--patients then were not always cooperative either.)

Well here's my slant on this whole TB scare.

My son tested positive on a routine TB test when he was in the 3rd grade, 7 years ago. Several tests later, X-rays, and visits to the pediatric infectious diseases dr., it was never determined where he contracted the TB. Now, his was never "active" so he was never contagious; but someone was. Everyone in the family was tested. We had no foreign nannies or housecleaners in our household; no close friends had Eastern European (major carriers today) nannies or third world employees that he could've been in close contact. But it had to have happened while he was in the 3rd grade because he was tested annually.

He had to take a daily dose of the government req'd meds. for 10 months, never missing a single dose. I was allowed to administer his meds at home; he didn't have to take them with a witness present at a TB clinic (which is extremely important for the homeless or drug addicts, otherwise, if they miss doses or just stop, there's where the drug resistance begins). He's fine now but he will always test positive for the remainder of his life.

Now here's what's so peculiar about this whole thing. We were called into a meeting by the head of the infectious diseases dept. & told by everyone on the staff that we must not tell anyone outside of our immediately family (that being the 3 of us) and not tell the elem. school. They said it would be all over the local media & cause unwarranted panic. They said it's unfortunate but that's the way people react today - - over react. So we followed the dr's orders. He probably contracted it on a plane or public transportation to Chicago, in an elevator, who knows. This is where it was explained to us how widespread it is & to cause a panic and undo stress would be futile. It can happen to anybody, anywhere, anytime. It really can never be tracked down to any one single carrier.

I would never have dreamed something like this could've happened. It's no wonder I'm a germaphobe. But it's a education in life. We're better educated now and are thankful.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Good Morning America has the exclusive story aired tomorrow morning, including a Diane Sawyer interview with the creep.

From ABCNews.com:

Andrew Speaker has asked for forgiveness from the airline passengers he exposed to a rare strain of tuberculosis... (since when do personal injury lawyers ask for forgiveness?)

Speaker, a 31-year-old lawyer from Atlanta, learned he had TB in January. In May, doctors realized his strain, known as XDR-TB, was extensively drug-resistant. He then boarded a commercial flight to Paris May 12, and returned from Europe 12 days later on a flight from Prague, Czech Republic, to Canada.


***********************

His father in law is saying that if he had any say in the matter, he would not have let the guy fly, knowingly having this type of TB. From what I understand about TB, all it would take is a sneeze caused by an alergen, to make TB airborne and passed around the plane's cabin. I am hearing that no cure and very limited treatments exists for this disease and that death will result. This guy wasn't even wearing a mask on the plane rides to help prevent contamination.

Ever read that Clancy book about terrorists (actually paid by doctors) spreading Eboli at the 2000 Australia Olympics? This kind of reminds me of that. Terrorists don't have to do too much, other than infecting some random stranger here and there, and all hell will break loose. Scary?, you better believe it. Realistic? absolutely.

So if the CDC told him he could travel at his will, are they just doing this to be politically correct and avoid getting slapped with law suits for discriminating? Why couldn't the Fed Gov't detain him as a suspected terrorist?

 

[audie]

Well here's my slant on this whole TB scare.

My son tested positive on a routine TB test when he was in the 3rd grade, 7 years ago. Several tests later, X-rays, and visits to the pediatric infectious diseases dr., it was never determined where he contracted the TB. Now, his was never "active" so he was never contagious; but someone was. Everyone in the family was tested. We had no foreign nannies or housecleaners in our household; no close friends had Eastern European (major carriers today) nannies or third world employees that he could've been in close contact. But it had to have happened while he was in the 3rd grade because he was tested annually.

He had to take a daily dose of the government req'd meds. for 10 months, never missing a single dose. I was allowed to administer his meds at home; he didn't have to take them with a witness present at a TB clinic (which is extremely important for the homeless or drug addicts, otherwise, if they miss doses or just stop, there's where the drug resistance begins). He's fine now but he will always test positive for the remainder of his life.

Now here's what's so peculiar about this whole thing. We were called into a meeting by the head of the infectious diseases dept. & told by everyone on the staff that we must not tell anyone outside of our immediately family (that being the 3 of us) and not tell the elem. school. They said it would be all over the local media & cause unwarranted panic. They said it's unfortunate but that's the way people react today - - over react. So we followed the dr's orders. He probably contracted it on a plane or public transportation to Chicago, in an elevator, who knows. This is where it was explained to us how widespread it is & to cause a panic and undo stress would be futile. It can happen to anybody, anywhere, anytime. It really can never be tracked down to any one single carrier.

I would never have dreamed something like this could've happened. It's no wonder I'm a germaphobe. But it's a education in life. We're better educated now and are thankful.

:shock: now that's a scary story jr ! my mom had tb right after her and pop got married and she had to be in a tb hospital for over a year.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Didn't there used to be special TB treatment centers all over the US?

 

[audie]

Didn't there used to be special TB treatment centers all over the US?

i'm not sure. mom was in a hospital about 40 miles from home.