TB case less threatening than initially thought

DENVER – The Atlanta tuberculosis patient whose trans-Atlantic voyage in May sparked an international public health incident has a less severe form of the disease than initially diagnosed, health officials said Tuesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in late May that Andrew Speaker had the most dangerous form of the illness, known as extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, and had left the United States against the advice of medical authorities.

The CDC asked the Department of Homeland Security to stop him from returning to the country, and for the first time in 44 years used its quarantine power to order him into isolation if he did return.

Speaker flew to Canada and, despite being on a watch list, persuaded a border inspector to let him cross back into the United States. He surrendered to medical authorities in New York.

But on Tuesday, the CDC and the hospital where Speaker is being treated, National Jewish Medical and Research Center, announced that Speaker actually has multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis. Unlike the more severe type, this type of TB can be treated with some drugs, and its survival rate is twice as high as that of the extensively drug-resistant strain, though still far lower than normal TB.

Speaker’s doctors have postponed lung surgery scheduled for this month. They said at an afternoon news conference they were optimistic for both him and any patients he may have exposed to the disease in his flights.

The CDC said it will not know until at least the end of the month whether Speaker infected anyone anyone and defended its handling of the case. It said the public health protocols on handling extensively and multiple drug-resistant cases are identical.

In a statement, Speaker, a personal-injury attorney, chided the CDC for its initial misdiagnosis and the way it handled his case.

“In the future, I hope they realize the terribly chilling effect they can have when they come after someone and their family on a personal level,” Speaker said. “They can, in a few days, destroy an entire family’s reputation, ability to make a living and good name.”