by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright June 1, 2007
All Rights Reserved.

rofusely apologizing for exposing countless people to a potentially deadly strain of tuberculosis, 31-year-old Atlanta attorney Andrew Speaker tried to defuse public outrage over his colossal selfishness. Speaker knew April 23 that he was diagnosed with TB and referred to a Fulton County, Ga., tuberculosis clinic. On May 10, he was told he had a drug-resistant strain of TB. Despite being told not to travel, county officials made no effort to quarantine Speaker, allowing him to follow through with his European travel plans, including an expected wedding on the Greek island of Santorini. “He specifically asked if he was not permitted to go. They said, no, we prefer you not to go, but we're not [telling] you not to go,” said his father and law partner Ted Speaker. “He was advised not to travel,” said Dr. Steven Kaikowsky, Fulton County director of Health and Wellness, stopping well-short of quarantine.

      Fulton County officials deny that they gave Speaker the option of traveling to Europe. “The letter did not say ‘We prefer.' It said ‘You are directed,'” said Kaikowsky, admitting that Speaker was not detained or quarantined. No one knows where Speaker spent May 11 but on May 12 he boarded an Air France jet with his fiancée in Atlanta and headed to Paris. Officials can't confirm whether Speaker was actually married May 18 in Santorini, with Greek authorities claiming the couple lacked the appropriate papers. On the same day, the CDC confirmed Speaker's diagnosis of multi-drug-resistant TB. By the time the CDC quarantine officer Dr. Martin Cetron reached Speaker in Rome May 23, he told Speaker that had the XDR or extremely drug resistant variety, begging him to enter a Rome hospital for quarantine. When the meeting ended, speaker fled to Prague and then flew to Montreal.

      Speaker admitted he didn't want to languish with a potentially fatal condition in a Rome hospital. He knew the gravity of his diagnosis and was willing to risk exposing numerous individuals to save his hide. “I don't expect for people to ever forgive me. I just hope that they understand that I truly never meant to put them in harm,” Speaker told “Good Morning America's” Diane Sawyer while quarantined in Denver. No one can figure out how Fulton County health officials or CDC in Rome could let Speaker get away. They knew the infectious risks and took no decisive action. Speaker's would-be father-in-law, who works as a microbiologist for the CDC's Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, probably told him to get back to the states at all costs or face almost certain death. When Speaker drove across the Canadian border at Champlain, N.Y., he wasn't “detained and quarantined.”

      When the border agent read the order “to detain and quarantine,” it's possible he let Speaker go, fearing for his own life. According to Homeland Security records, Speaker spent only two minutes at the border for a routine crossing. “Today it was one sick and very irresponsible person who slipped through. But tomorrow could bring much worse,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), concerned that terrorists could slip across the border with a bio-weapon and infect vast numbers of people. “There's just no excuse for this. God forbid this was someone bent on doing us harm,” furious with the border patrol. From Speaker's first diagnosis in Atlanta to his encounter with the CDC in Rome, authorities dropped the ball. They should have quarantined Speaker in Atlanta and prevented him from flying to Europe and, at the very least, certainly detained him in Rome.

      When anthrax hit postal workers and government offices after Sept. 11, the country's vulnerability to bio-terrorism became obvious. No one was ever caught for the anthrax episode, killing at least two postal workers. Schumer's disbelief about border agents and federal authorities highlights the need for a real bio-terrorism plan. Local, state and federal officials can't pussyfoot around when it comes to infectious diseases like tuberculosis. No one knows for sure whether Speaker was infected in the father-in-law's CDC laboratory. While he's denying any involvement, it's no accident that his father-in-law worked in the area of tuberculosis disease prevention. Speaker's clever escape route from Prague to Montreal and then entry point in New York, suggests the personal injury attorney was carefully coached. U.S. officials might wish to talk more closely with his father-in-law.

      Speaker's disregard for his fiancée and fellow travelers showed that he placed his own survival above everyone else. When first learned of his diagnosis April 23, he should have checked himself into a hospital and spared others of infectious risks. “I've lived in this state of constant fear and anxiety and exhaustion for a week now. And to think that someone else is now feeling that, I wouldn't want anyone to feel that way. It's awful,” Speaker told “Good Morning America,” revealing the panic and drive to survive that potentially infected innocent bystanders. Though no one's infected yet—including his fiancée—tuberculosis takes time to incubate. Health officials must develop a new protocol requiring “detention and quarantine” for dangerously infected patients. Judging by the response of officials at the CDC and in Atlanta, there's no time to waste preparing for next emergency.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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