Georgian exposes others to tuberculosis

Georgia health officials are tracking down about 200 people they believe have been exposed to tuberculosis.

A man with the disease was jailed earlier this month because he did not comply with his treatment plan which included staying in his Covington home, east of Atlanta.

Health officials are trying to contact everyone 32-year old Anthony Underwood met with over the last three months, including his seven children. Chest x-rays on two of the children indicate they were exposed to the disease. No one has yet tested positive for the infection.

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.

Student diagnosed with tuberculosis

A high school junior in Atlanta has been diagnosed with tuberculosis. Parents and teachers at North Atlanta High School were notified Monday. Fulton County health officials are offering free testing for other students at the school.

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.

Teen jailed with TB released

A Mexican teenager who was jailed in Gwinnett County after refusing treatment for tuberculosis has been released. 17-year-old Francisco Santos is now recuperating at his home in Duluth after more than a month in jail. He faces deportation along with his mother. Health officials say Santos passed three TB tests and so could be released from jail.

After scare, students test negative for TB

Four Cobb County high school students learned today that they do not have active tuberculosis. They came into contact with a teacher suspected of having the disease. Health officials say this and other recent, highly-publicized cases in metro Atlanta are serving to raise awareness of TB.

In Georgia, roughly 500 new cases of active TB are reported every year, and half of those are in the 5-country metro Atlanta area. State TB Program Director Beverly DeVoe Payton says that's tiny compared to total population, but the recent media coverage is important because the disease is still a public health concern. She say, "Because the symptoms are so similar to other respiratory conditions - pneumonia, bronchitis, the flu - people really may not even
be aware that they had been exposed to someone with TB, and they still would not know unless they had a specific tubercular skin test.

DeVoe-Payton says TB in Georgia has decreased by 44% since the early '90s, and that over time, it has concentrated in certain subpopulations. Those are mainly the homeless, intravenous drug users, and those in correctional facilities.

Report finds major U.S. security gaps

A new report says the U.S. could be vulnerable to pandemic flu or smallpox. The review by the House Homeland Security Committee’s Democratic staff delved into security gaps that failed to stop an Atlanta tuberculosis patient from leaving the country earlier this year. The report comes out a day before the sixth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. The committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, added: "If we can't counter TB, how can we counter terrorism?"

Teen jailed with TB will be deported

A Mexican teenager jailed after refusing treatment for tuberculosis will be deported along with his mother. 17-year-old Francisco Santos and his unidentified mother will be deported to Mexico when Santos is released from the Gwinnett County Jail. County health officials jailed Santos last month after he refused treatment for an active, contagious case of tuberculosis and threatened to return to Mexico. Santos has since started taking medicine but remains jailed.

Illegal alien jailed with TB could be deported

Officials are taking steps to deport a Mexican teenager who is jailed in Gwinnett County for refusing treatment for tuberculosis. Gwinnett’s sheriff says 17-year-old Francisco Santos admits he in the country illegally. Santos has been in jail since last week when he refused treatment for an active, contagious case of tuberculosis and threatened to return to Mexico. Santos -- who lives in Duluth -- has since started taking medicine.

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.

Speaker returns sans tuberculosis

Tuberculosis patient Andrew Speaker is back in Georgia after being released from a Colorado hospital. Officials there say he successfully completed inpatient treatment.

Speaker's parents met him in Georgia, and he is now in Hall County, where he has a lake house at Lake Lanier.

Speaker drew national attention last month after he took an international flight while sick with a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis.

Atlanta TB patient has surgery

Atlanta lawyer Andrew Speaker had surgery today to remove a portion of his right lung infected with tuberculosis. A University of Colorado Hospital spokeswoman says doctors say the surgery went well. Speaker set off an international scandal last month when he took two trans-Atlantic flights with what doctors thought was a deadly form of TB.

Nine sue Atlanta TB patient

Today nine people have filed suit against the Atlanta lawyer quarantined with tuberculosis. The suit against Andrew Speaker is on behalf of seven Canadians and two Czechs who were passengers on a flight with Speaker. The ninth is a brother and roommate of one of the passengers. Speaker flew from Europe to Canada despite knowing that he had an extremely dangerous form of TB. The plaintiffs’ lawyer says they do not have TB, but they could get it in the future.

Quarantined TB patient not so sick

The Atlanta lawyer quarantined with tuberculosis may not be as sick as doctors first thought. Officials at a Denver hospital say Andrew Speaker's TB is responding to some of the medications that were thought to be ineffective against his disease. That means he’s now considered to have multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis – rather than extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis. His wedding trip to Europe prompted an international manhunt.

Atlanta TB patient says no one told him not to travel

The globe-trotting tuberculosis patient from Atlanta told Congress today that doctors told him he was not contagious and did not order him to stay in the United States for treatment. 31-year-old Andrew Speaker spoke by telephone from the Denver hospital room where he’s quarantined. But health officials painted Speaker differently. In their testimony to a Senate subcommittee, federal and local health officials said Speaker took an international flight after he had been told he had a drug-resistant form of T-B and should not travel.

TB patient identified as Atlanta attorney

The first person to be federally quarantined for tuberculosis since the early 1960s has been identified at as an Atlanta attorney. His name is Andrew Speaker, and he's a 31-year-old newlywed.

Federal authorities say Speaker knew he was sick but traveled to and from his European wedding on commercial flights. When he returned to the U-S, Speaker was briefly hospitalized at Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital before flying to Denver for further treatment.

Speaker's new father-in-law is a tuberculosis researcher with the C-D-C. In a written statement, Robert Cooksey says he's never had TB and is not responsible for his son-in-law's infection.

Meanwhile, health officials here and in Europe are tracking down nearly one hundred passengers who may have been seated near speaker on the flights.

CDC searching for potential TB patients

With a tuberculosis patient under federal quarantine in Atlanta, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it’s working to find passengers who may have been exposed to a rare and dangerous strain. The Georgia man reportedly made two trans-Atlantic flights while being infected with the disease. The Italian Health Ministry is tracing his movements as well. This is the first U.S. government-ordered quarantine since 1963.

Man with rare form of TB in quarantine

A Georgia man with a rare and dangerous form of tuberculosis has been placed in quarantine in Atlanta by the federal government. Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say he might have exposed passengers and crew on two trans-Atlantic flights earlier this month. This is the first time since 1963 that the government has issued a quarantine order.