Friday, June 01, 2007

Dangerous TB Traveler

I was just reading the story of Andrew Speaker, the person who carries a very virulant strain of tuberculosis and went jetting around the globe in spite of being told by the Center's for Disease Control and Prevention to not travel.
I have attached a link below and hope you get a chance to read it. This arrogant young man put people at risk in the jets that he flew, perhaps even his own fiancee, whom he traveled to Europe to marry. In Rome he was again contacted by officials from the CDC and told to stay put and they would make arrangements to bring him back. Instead he flew to Prague, then to Montreal and then he drove into the United States, all to circumvent authorities.
There are reports that he did not break any laws, but I cannot believe there is not something they can charge him with. It mentions in the story that he is a personal injury attorney and might sue the federal government. That would be a bunch of nonsense after he put all of the passengers on those commercial jets at risk of contracting this very hard to cure form of tuberculosis. In fact, those passengers should all file assault charges against him as well as enough civil lawsuits to keep him in court for years to come. There are cases where people are charged and convicted of intentionally infecting people with HIV, etc., knowing full well what they were doing. I cannot see where this would be any different. Mr. Speaker knew that he had a virulant form of TB, ignored the CDC's doctor's warning not to travel, and he did not inform any of the passengers that just being next to him put them at risk of infection. So why can't they charge him with a crime?
This should show us how easy it would be for a pandemic, such as avian flu, to be spread by someone such as this who has himself as his only concern. It also shows just how porous our borders are that he could just drive back into the United States, even though he had been put on a watch and detain list. There are reports that the border guard who let him cross into the United States was fired. I would hope so! Why is it so difficult to find people who will actually do the jobs that they are hired to do, because this could just as easily have been a terrorist crossing the border with more nefarious plans on his mind, then did Mr. Speaker.
Anyway it is an interesting case and should make everyone see how much danger we face from diseases, when a willful person puts his pleasure above everyone else's safety.

Dangerous TB

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