XDR TB - Government Imposed Quarantine for man with rare TB

I haven't seen this posted yet and thought it was interesting. CDC website has press release from 2 pm today. They are asking specific individuals that were on trans-Atlantic flights to be tested for this rare form of TB.

Interestingly, it seems this is the first time the US government has imposed quarantine since 1963. Could this become the next pandemic??

this man was one of two people in the entire united states to be diagnosed with this kind of super drug resistant TB this year.. This is not a pandemic, but rather a safety precaution. TB isnt super contagious, they just want anyone who sat within a two or three seat radius to go and make sure they havent got it.

The flight by the way was ATL to Paris on may 13.
Return Was Prague to Montreal to (US it says? not sure where)

If you were on one of those flights visit your doctor
www.ctv.ca...

I find some of the man's comments a little disturbing.

From MyWay News:

"This is insane to me that I have an armed guard outside my door when I've cooperated with everything other than the whole solitary-confinement-in-Italy thing."

The "whole solitary-confinement-in-Italy thing" is in reference to the CDC telling the man not to fly and to turn himself in - which of course the man did not do. He instead chose to fly and potentialy (although understandably unrealistic) infect many, many people. He appears to shrug it off as no big deal...

Hmph...

EDIT: Correct quote

[edit on 5/30/2007 by DCFusion]

Originally posted by Matheson
I haven't seen this posted yet and thought it was interesting. CDC website has press release from 2 pm today. They are asking specific individuals that were on trans-Atlantic flights to be tested for this rare form of TB.

This is NOT a RARE form of TB! It is called XDRTB (Extreme Drug Resistant Tuberculosis) and is highly infectious. See:

'This new strain leaves us facing a nightmare,' said Paul Nunn, coordinator of the WHO's drug-resistance unit. 'It is resistant to nearly every drug in our arsenal. We are now on the threshold of the appearance of a strain of TB that is resistant to every medicine known to science.' - observer.guardian.co.uk...; and
www.msnbc.msn.com...; and
www.newstarget.com...; and (last one)
news.bbc.co.uk...

This is a very very serious problem.

Originally posted by LovingSoul
This is NOT a RARE form of TB! It is called XDRTB (Extreme Drug Resistant Tuberculosis) and is highly infectious. See:

I would have to think that the OP meant rare in the U.S. - only 17 cases since 2000 - as most articles about this issue indicate that it is a serious problem in many countries.

EDIT: to correct link

[edit on 5/30/2007 by DCFusion]

17 Cases in the U.S. since 2000 is rare. What I find interesting is this guys father in law is a tuberculosis researcher at the CDC, What are the odds?

if anyone is interested, Google the Father-in-Law and check out all the work he has done related to TB. Robert Cooksey tuberculosis