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US Officials React to TB Scare - VOA Story

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U.S. health and government officials are pledging to tighten procedures in the 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. During a Congressional probe, Andrew Speaker, challenged testimony by officials.
Speaker is in medical quarantine in a U.S. hospital, but the controversy sparked by his travels has re-focused the attention of Congress and government on gaps in the nation's border security system. Although he had been told he had TB, he was able to leave the United States, fly to Italy for his wedding ceremony before health authorities were able to notify him about the full seriousness of his disease.
After further tests confirmed he had what is called a multi-drug-resistant form of TB, U.S. officials contacted him in Rome asking him to report to local health officials there, but did not directly contact Italian authorities. Instead, Speaker and his wife flew on commercial flights to the Czech Republic, then to Montreal, and crossed back into the U.S. after a land border patrol officer waved him through, despite having seen a computer alert to detain and isolate him, and contact health authorities.
On Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have allocated billions since the September 2001 terrorist attacks to bolster border security and anti-terrorist defenses,officials faced tough questions.
Julie Gerberding, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, said a thorough review is under way.
However, she and others maintain that Speaker was "uncooperative" and that they were unaware he was planning to travel.
But testifying by telephone from Denver, where he is in medical quarantine, an angry Andrew Speaker took issue with that assertion, saying both local and CDC officials told him he was "not contagious" or a threat, and knew he was planning to travel:
Speaker said U.S. officials told him they did not have the resources to fly him back to the United States. Lawmakers have criticized CDC officials for not dispatching an aircraft to transport him back to the U.S.
Senator Tom Harkin, chairing the Senate committee, expressed concern that current procedures may be insufficient to prevent a repetition of such incidents.
Later, Ralph Basham, commissioner for Customs and Border Protection, told the House Homeland Security Committee most of the fault is with the border officer who allowed Speaker to re-enter the United States from Canada.
Jeffrey Runge, chief medical officer for the Department of Homeland Security says that despite best efforts, U.S. borders remain vulnerable to infectious diseases.
But Congresswoman Jane Harman says there was potential for disaster in the incident.
A statement from the Denver medical center where Speaker has been quarantined, said laboratory tests so far have been negative, a sign that the chances he could have spread the disease are very low.

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