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Quarantine Law Exploring Issues Related To Travel With An Infectious Disease

Quarantine Law for the 21st Century
Exploring Issues Related to Travel with an Infectious Disease
U. S. health and government officials are pledging to tighten procedures in wake of an incident in which a man infected with a drug resistant form of tuberculosis was able to travel out of the United States and return evading health protection measures at the border. Atlanta lawyer, Andrew Speaker, 31, made headlines when he traveled on seven commercial flights (both domestic and international) with a rare and dangerous form of drug resistant tuberculosis, called XDR-TB.
Details of the Case
To begin, a brief chronology of Speaker's case is necessary:
In January 2007, Speaker was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He was treated in Atlanta. By May 10, Speaker's doctor, as well as Fulton County, Georgia health officials, had come to the conclusion that although his strain of TB was latent (meaning it was not contagious), it was highly resistant to treatment. There is some dispute as to whether Speaker was told that he was permitted to travel at this meeting. However, it seems clear from a tape recording that was made at that meeting by Speaker's father that he was told he was not contagious. According to Mr. Speaker: "doctors recommended he not travel but never mentioned that he was contagious or a threat to others" (USA TODAY, June 6, 2007).
On May 12, Speaker and his fiancée flew to Europe for their wedding and honeymoon, having changed tickets that would previously have had them depart on May 14. After Speaker had left the country, the Centers for Disease Control, in consultation with the physicians who had met with Speaker on May 10, concluded that he had a highly virulent, contagious form of tuberculosis known as XDR TB.
On May 21, a family member contacted Speaker, who was in Italy, and said that he should contact the CDC. When he did, the CDC informed Speaker that Italian officials were going to come in the morning and take him to a...