Jailed TB patient deported

A Mexican teenager who was jailed after refusing treatment for tuberculosis has been deported. Immigration officials say 18-year-old Francisco Santos and his mother returned to Mexico December 9th. Both were illegal immigrants. Santos was jailed in Gwinnett County August 24th when he refused to accept treatment for an active, contagious case of TB and then threatened to flee to Mexico.

Tuberculosis did not spread on flights

No one who shared a plane with an Atlanta tuberculosis patient earlier this year got sick. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it tested 250 passengers who shared a May Air France flight with Andrew Speaker. Canadian health officials also say no one got sick on a flight with Speaker from the Czech Republic. Andrew Speaker tood the two international flights in May despite being told he had a deadly form of TB.

TB-stricken teen jailed after refusing treatment

Francisco Santos, 17, of Norcross was told by doctors on Friday that he had communicable tuberculosis.

The youth, refusing treatment, attempted to return to his native Mexico, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Santos' citizenship status is unclear.

But Gwinnett Co. health officials feared an incident similar to that of Atlanta lawyer Andrew Speaker, who flew internationally despite the infection. In a legal, but rare act, they jailed Santos in a medical isolation facility where he remains, pending his assenting to treatment, or further legal measures.

County health officials are trying to track down people Santos' came in recent contact with, and are expected to speak publicly about Santos' condition on Monday, according to the newspaper.

A judge is to hold a hearing on the imbroglio on Sept., 5.

Students test negative for TB

It looks like a Georgia high school student who tested positive for tuberculosis did not give it to other students. Health officials notified Kennesaw Mountain High School in Cobb County in July that a rising sophomore tested positive for TB. The school sent letters to about 100 students who had classes or rode the bus with the student. None of them tested positive. Tuberculosis is a disease caused by a bacteria which usually attack the lungs.