Update on TB patient & questionable testing

[Guest guest]

Don't know how many of you have been following the TB case. I saw Mr. Speaker briefly on the news and apparently he's not too happy with the CDC and sounds like he's considering legal action against them, especially since he's being sued by some fellow airline passengers. Here's a brief article that talks about his case and another TB patient who's also been locked up with TB and the discrepancies in test results between facilities. Diagnosis changed in resistant TB case An Arizona man kept under armed guard is found to have a less-dangerous form of the disease, officials say. By Jia-Rui Chong, Times Staff WriterJuly 20, 2007 For the second time this year, a patient initially diagnosed with a rare and deadly form of drug-resistant tuberculosis turned out to have a less dangerous form, hospital officials said Thursday. s, 27, had been kept under armed guard in Arizona because health officials thought he had extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, or XDR TB, and failed to wear a mask in public, said his attorney, Cosme.Cosme said the results showed that health officials "were jumping the gun."New tests run on s' sputum at National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, one of the leading XDR TB facilities in the country, show that he has multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis, which has a survival rate twice as high as the more resistant strain. s' infection can be controlled with a wider range of drugs than can XDR TB,

said hospital spokesman Allstetter.s was tested in preparation for possible lung surgery at National Jewish to help his recovery, his lawyer said.The hospital also recently changed the diagnosis of Speaker, an Atlanta man who sparked an international manhunt after he left the country to get married and honeymoon in Europe.The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had diagnosed him with XDR TB.Allstetter said the differences in diagnoses in both cases could be due to the more sensitive tests used at National Jewish. Tuberculosis is an infection of the lungs characterized by fever, weight loss, night sweats and the coughing up of blood. XDR TB is the most resistant form.Since 1993, there have been 49 cases of XDR TB in the U.S. So why is it that National Jewish can perform "more sensitive

tests" than the CDC? And why are we not hearing more about why a strain that has a "twice as high survival rate" is not considered as serious a risk as the "more resistant strain? Could it be it's not considered as contagious...only chronic? Again, I have to ask what seems wrong with this entire picture? penny

[Guest guest]

welcome to the club

- In infections , Penny Houle

<pennyhoule@...> wrote:

>

> Don't know how many of you have been following the TB case. I saw

Mr. Speaker briefly on the news and apparently he's not too happy

with the CDC and sounds like he's considering legal action against

them, especially since he's being sued by some fellow airline

passengers.

>

> Here's a brief article that talks about his case and another TB

patient who's also been locked up with TB and the discrepancies in

test results between facilities.

>

> Diagnosis changed in resistant TB case An Arizona man kept

under armed guard is found to have a less-dangerous form of the

disease, officials say.

>

> By Jia-Rui Chong, Times Staff Writer

> July 20, 2007

>

> For the second time this year, a patient initially diagnosed with

a rare and deadly form of drug-resistant tuberculosis turned out to

have a less dangerous form, hospital officials said Thursday.

>

> s, 27, had been kept under armed guard in Arizona

because health officials thought he had extensively drug-resistant

tuberculosis, or XDR TB, and failed to wear a mask in public, said

his attorney, Cosme.

>

> Cosme said the results showed that health officials " were jumping

the gun. "

>

> New tests run on s' sputum at National Jewish Medical and

Research Center in Denver, one of the leading XDR TB facilities in

the country, show that he has multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis,

which has a survival rate twice as high as the more resistant strain.

>

> s' infection can be controlled with a wider range of drugs

than can XDR TB, said hospital spokesman Allstetter.

>

> s was tested in preparation for possible lung surgery at

National Jewish to help his recovery, his lawyer said.

>

> The hospital also recently changed the diagnosis of Speaker,

an Atlanta man who sparked an international manhunt after he left the

country to get married and honeymoon in Europe.

>

> The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had

diagnosed him with XDR TB.

>

> Allstetter said the differences in diagnoses in both cases could be

due to the more sensitive tests used at National Jewish.

>

> Tuberculosis is an infection of the lungs characterized by fever,

weight loss, night sweats and the coughing up of blood. XDR TB is the

most resistant form.

>

> Since 1993, there have been 49 cases of XDR TB in the U.S.

>

>

> So why is it that National Jewish can perform " more sensitive

tests " than the CDC?

>

> And why are we not hearing more about why a strain that has

a " twice as high survival rate " is not considered as serious a risk

as the " more resistant strain? Could it be it's not considered as

contagious...only chronic?

>

>

> Again, I have to ask what seems wrong with this entire picture?

>

> penny

>