Jewish lawyer became bio-weapon

Posted on 31. May, 2007 by Derek Bargeld in Race, Top Stories

ATLANTA – The tuberculosis patient under the first federal quarantine since 1963 is a 31-year-old personal injury attorney who practices law with his father in Atlanta, a federal law enforcement official said Thursday.

The official, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to talk about the case, identified the patient as Andrew Speaker. A medical official in Atlanta also confirmed the name on condition of anonymity.

The man has a rare and dangerous form of tuberculosis that has proved resistant to drugs. He arrived at Denver’s National Jewish Medical and Research Center for treatment Thursday, walking under his own power after flying from Atlanta with his wife and federal marshals, hospital spokesman William Allstetter said.

In a phone interview with the Atlanta Constitution-Journal from an Atlanta hospital earlier this week, he explained that he knew he had TB when he flew from Atlanta to Europe in mid-May for his wedding and honeymoon, but that he didn’t find out until he was already there that it was an extensively drug-resistant strain considered especially dangerous.

Despite warnings from federal health officials not to board another long flight, he flew home for treatment fearing he wouldn’t survive if he didn’t reach the U.S.

Health officials in North America and Europe are now trying to track down about 80 passengers who sat near him on the two trans-Atlantic flights, and they want passenger lists from four shorter flights he took while in Europe. Patients on the shorter flights are not expected to be as much at risk, health officials said.

Among those being tested are more than two dozen University of South Carolina Aiken students, school spokeswoman Jennifer Lake said Thursday. Two were apparently sitting near him, possibly in the same row, she said.MORE>>>