I'd Like To Know...

...more about the creep with drug-resistant TB who went flying all over the place:

The Atlanta man with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis who sparked an international health alarm by flying to Europe and back for his wedding twice ignored requests to stay put and not travel, officials said yesterday.

He apparently also shortened his honeymoon -- which included stays in both Greece and Italy -- and returned home early in order to avoid the complicated procedure being put together to get him back to the United States in a way that would not expose other people to his dangerous microbe.

[...]

"There is some indication of deceitfulness on the part of the individual," said Russ Knocke, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which was in the process of putting the patient's name on a "no-fly list" last Thursday when it learned he was already on a plane headed for Montreal.

So far this idiot's identity hasn't been revealed but I'm guessing - and obviously I could be wrong - he's some sort of self-entitled jackass, upwardly mobile, and drives a big-ass SUV.

He seems the type.

Oh, and if he transmitted TB to anyone else he ought to be sued to the point that he's forced to live in a cardboard box.

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Comments

[Rob]

Strange that you'd accept at face value the version of events being put forth by Homeland Security. From what I'm hearing and reading, I don't believe ANYBODY'S version of this story so far. The only fact I'm sure of is that the medical establishment and the security agencies for a number of countries botched this case. A few groups may be trying to make more of this than this case warrants, as a way to gain power and funding. Strangely, I have sympathy for at least the CDC on that count.

The TB guy's also an idiot. He wanted to come back to the United States because he was afraid of the treatment he'd get in an Italian hospital. I can understand wanting to get out of Italy, but if you need state-of-the-art medical care for a cutting-edge disease, I'm not so sure I'd have gone to the United States.

Many might not expect it, but India might have been the best place to go. Many of their doctors speak English, they have some of the best hospital infection control policies in the world, and a multi-antibiotic-resistant form of TB might scare them enough into working real hard on your case without terrifying them so much that they put you in a Biosafety Level 4 coffin while you're still breathing. They're also big on medical tourism; there's a number of conditions where you can go to India to have the operation done by the most experienced person in the world (the doc who literally wrote the book on the procedure), face far fewer post-op complications (including nosocomal infections), sightsee, get great food, and still pay less than the same procedure in the U.S.

The Bush administration attitude toward business has contributed to a lot of this loss in leadership in the medical field. Today's article in the PG on the FDA is just the tip of the iceberg.

And in all honesty, the government under Clinton, while not exactly acting as floor mats like the Bush administration, didn't stand up well to the medical/drug industry.

[spork_incident]

You make a good point about HS but am skeptical about the "power and funding" argument; that seems to be the catch-all argument against science anymore. I'm not saying you're wrong, just that I'm skeptical.

I believe Thailand has also become a place for medical tourism. And, yes, it's ironic that someone would be afraid of European medical treatment (though I can't speak to the Italian system).

And don't think for a moment that I'm a Bill (or Hillary) Clinton fan; Bill "normalized" corporatism, making it acceptable to self-described liberals. That said, I'd take Clinton back in a second considering the current crew.

Anyway, you make some good points.

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[Rob]

Homeland Security is looking to expand its turf -- they're the ones I fear from the "power and funding." As I said, I'm sympathetic with the CDC, one of the few governmental agencies that has escaped a lot of the Bush nonsense.

The Italian system scares me. I was going to run my first marathon there; medical care was one of the reasons I backed out of that one and went to Kona instead.

As far as the anti-science...that's not something anyone has ever accused me of before.

[spork_incident]

Oh, heck, I know you're not anti-science; I was taking exception to the "power and funding" idea. I didn't think that you meant it in the way the global warming denialists do.

While I'm fully aware of the insidiousness of HS I think this story is what it appears to be.

Of course, I could be wrong in the end. If so, I'll say so.

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[Rob]

Talking about the anti-global warming folks, I should blog about this but I'm too frustrated with these idiots.

[Rob]

Ok, this just got seriously WEIRD:

TB Patient's Father-in-Law Is Top Tuberculosis Researcher at Centers for Disease Control

Not only is the guy's father-in-law the top TB researcher, but he was released from Atlanta and went to a hospital in Denver.

Arrangements could have been made to ship him back to the US on a medical flight that would not have exposed all the passengers. Medical people try to take care of their own; calling in favors from others at the CDC should not have been hard.

Bizarre. I'm losing sympathy for him, and not because he's a lawyer. On the other hand, if he gets the crap sued out of him, it might be funny....

[spork_incident]

Blogged the TB update.

Yeah, heard the Griffin interview this morning. You might have heard the sound of my head banging on my desktop.

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