TB jetsetter not as dangerous as first thought

It seems the jet setting air traveller with tuberculosis (TB) is not quite as dangerous as first thought. According to a federal health official, American lawyer Andrew Speaker has a less severe form of TB than previously diagnosed.

Speaker triggered an international public health incident by traveling while infected with what the world was told was an extensively drug resistant form of TB.

The initial diagnosis was based on a CDC analysis of a bronchoscopy sample taken in March and apparently indicated then that Mr. Speaker had XDR-TB which is multi-drug resistant and very difficult to treat.

Now the CDC says he has a less severe form of the disease than previously diagnosed.

It is said a series of sputum samples all indicated his TB was a milder form of the multidrug-resistant TB which can be treated with some antibiotics which the more severe form resists.

On Tuesday an official at Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Center, where Speaker is being treated said the re-classification related to drugs that had been tested to treat Speaker's tuberculosis.

Federal health officials maintain Speaker ignored their warnings to seek help in Europe while on his honeymoon in Italy and returned to North America with his wife on a commercial flight through Canada where he then crossed the border and drove to New York City where he notified authorities.

He had zigzagged his way across Europe in what appeared to be an attempt to avoid health officials.

He was briefly placed under federal quarantine and the border guard involved lost his job over the incident.

Mr Speakers action sparked an international search for his fellow airline passengers so they could be tested for the disease.

Doctors at the Denver Hospital had originally said Speaker would undergo surgery in July to remove infected lung tissue, a procedure sometimes used when drugs cannot completely kill a TB infection; it is unclear whether this is still the case.

The incident caused an international scare and Congress held a hearing on the CDC's handling of his case and the role of Speaker's father-in-law, who works for the CDC.

Mr Speaker and his family have denied many of the allegations made about their behaviour and say he was never told to remain in the U.S. and not travel overseas.

The case has raised questions about way the CDC handled the whole affair and has also questioned just how secure America is when it comes to dealing with highly infectious diseases carried by travellers.