Posted on 05/29/2007 8:54:19 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3
ATLANTA — A man with a rare and exceptionally dangerous form of tuberculosis likely entered the United States at the Champlain Port of Entry.
That is according to a story in the online version of the Montreal Gazette today.
In a press conference today, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said the Georgia man is infected with extensively drug resistant tuberculosis, also called XDR-TB.
“We have no suspicion that this patient was highly infectious, in fact medical evidence would suggest that his potential for transmission would be on the low side, but we know it (the case of tuberculosis) isn’t viral,” she said. “We are considering not only his own ability to transmit, but also the seriousness of this organism and the chance that some passenger on this plane could be one that was at a special risk for serious tuberculosis on the basis of their own personal medical history.”
The man has been placed in quarantine by the U.S. government after possibly exposing passengers and crew on two trans-Atlantic flights this month.
The infected man flew from Atlanta to Paris on May 12 aboard Air France Flight 385. He returned to North America on May 24 aboard Czech Air Flight 0104 from Prague to Montreal, then drove into the United States. It is likely he passed through the Champlain Port of Entry and drove south on the Northway.
The CDC urged people on the same flights to get checked for tuberculosis.
It is the first time since 1963 that the government issued a quarantine order. The last such order was to quarantine a patient with smallpox, according to the CDC.
The government issued the order after a CDC official reached the man by phone in Italy and told him not to take commercial flights, but he flew back to North America anyway, said Dr. Martin Cetron, director of the CDC’s division of global migration and quarantine.
“He was told in no uncertain terms not to take a flight back,” Cetron said.
Cetron reached the man once he was back in the United States. At that point, he voluntarily went to a New York hospital, then was flown by the CDC to an Atlanta-area hospital.
He is not facing prosecution, health officials said. Federal officials declined to release details about him.
The man is hospitalized in Atlanta in respiratory isolation, according to the World Health Organization.
He was potentially infectious at the time of the flights, so CDC officials recommended medical exams for cabin crew members on those flights, as well as passengers sitting in the same rows or within two rows.
CDC officials did not release row numbers but said the airlines were working with health officials to contact those passengers. Passengers who should be tested will be contacted by health officials from their home countries, Cetron said.
“At that point, he voluntarily went to a New York hospital”
So he drove down the Northway (I-87) from Montreal. What New York hospital did he go to, I wonder.
Bellevue, per the local news.
TB patient was hospitalized for 3 days in NYC - Bellevue Hospital.
Associated Press - May 29, 2007 9:55 PM ET
NEW YORK (AP) - A man quarantined by the US government because of an infection with a rare and exceptionally dangerous form of tuberculosis spent three days in a New York City hospital.
But New York health officials say the man did NOT transmit TB to anyone during his stay.
Federal health officials, however, say the man possibly exposed passengers and crews on two trans-Atlantic flights earlier this month.
He flew from Atlanta to Paris on May 12th aboard Air France Flight 385.
He returned to North America on May 24th aboard Czech Air Flight 104 from Prague to Montreal. He re-entered the US at the Champlain border crossing in northern New York.
The man then drove to New York City and voluntarily went to Bellevue Hospital.
He is now hospitalized in Atlanta.
The quarantine marks the first time since 1963 that the government issued such an order.
Thanks. Just checking. Our hospital is right off the Northway.
Thanks.
Should we ask if he wishes to donate blood? //SARC
WHY would someone FLY to Montreal when he has to DRIVE to ATLANTA, his home??? This makes NO sense!! There are a LOT of flight every DAY MUCH CLOSER TO ATLANTA!! This smells a little.
my mom’s at albany med., and i was born at glens falls hosp. thankfully he didnt end up there. this is par for the course at bellevue. all the homeless crack-heads with TB end up there.
How else could he have returned home?
A man with a rare and dangerous form of tuberculosis ignored doctors’ advice and took two trans-Atlantic flights, leading to the first U.S. government-ordered quarantine since 1963, health officials said Tuesday. The man, whom officials did not identify, is at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital in respiratory isolation.
The man had been told by health officials in early May that he had a form of TB that was resistant to first-line antibiotics and was advised not to travel to Europe. “He was told traveling is against medical advice,” said Dr. Steven Katkowsky, director of the Fulton County Department of Health & Wellness.
Health officials said they don’t know how the Georgia man was infected.
A CDC official reached the man by phone in Rome and told him not to take commercial flights, but he flew back to North America anyway. “He was told in no uncertain terms not to take a flight back,” Cetron said.
Cetron reached the man once he was back in the United States. At that point, he voluntarily went to a New York hospital, then was flown by the CDC to Atlanta, where he was issued the federal quarantine order. He is not facing prosecution, health officials said.
Do you know that the man is a us citizen? Link??
“He is not facing prosecution, health officials said.”
Interesting...
My husband asked me the same question. “Is he a citizen?”
The man, who went on the trip with his wife, also traveled within Europe...
Health officials worry about “multidrug-resistant” TB, which can withstand the mainline antibiotics isoniazid and rifampin. The man was infected with something even worse - “extensively drug-resistant” TB, also called XDR-TB, which resists many drugs used to treat the infection.
There have been 17 U.S. XDR-TB cases since 2000, according to CDC statistics.
Three-quarters were people from foreign countries. One case was a Russian man who arrived in Phoenix last year. He was jailed after he stopped taking medications and went unmasked to a restaurant and other businesses, threatening the health of others.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070530/D8PEEOOO0.html
I heard earlier that it “takes awhile to develop.” What’s “awhile?”
“i was born at glens falls hosp”
Me too. :)
I do not know. The below is from the CDC.
What’s “awhile?”
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/2007/r070529.htm
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