CDC issues quarantine order, seeks passengers in drug-resistant TB scare
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is searching for people who may have been exposed to an airline passenger with a virulent form of tuberculosis.
Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of the CDC, says the person traveled on Air France flight 385 (Atlanta to Paris) on May 12 and Czech Air flight 0104 (Prague to Montreal) on May 24. He entered the United States by car, according to Gerberding.
"We have no suspicion that this patient was highly infectious, in fact the medical evidence would suggest that his potential for transmission would be on the low side, but we know it isn't zero," Gerberding says.
She says a federal quarantine order has been issued and the man is receiving medical treatment. The crew and passengers who sat within two rows of the man should be tested as a precaution, she says.
Gerberding says the man was aware of his diagnosis at the time of the flights, but may not have known that he had a drug-resistant form the disease that is very difficult to treat.
Here's the WHO page
devoted to XDR-TB. Here's the
list of communicable diseases that are covered by the federal regulations and an
overview of the USA's quarantine laws.