Gothamist: Typhoid Larry: TB Patient Under Federal Quarantine

white privilege gets a pass

Thu, 31 May 2007 22:11:10 -0500

Yep, TB guy is Andrew Speaker a white guy. even though his passport was flagged the customs guy let him through because his skin was white and his name was not almed or muhamed. TB or not TB, you answer the question.

Rocknrope

Wed, 30 May 2007 16:38:14 -0500

The guy's a lawyer - his karmic retribution already puts him in reincarnated sand flea territory.

bofug

Wed, 30 May 2007 16:06:46 -0500

Sounds like a typical governmental F-up mixed with bad communication and an "entitled" individual. It's not unusual, in the case of Mycobacterium (TB is only on of 'em) for it to take weeks for a bug to be detected. Then it can take weeks more to determine the bug's sensitivity to the treatment drugs. If I was the guy (or his wife) & knew I had active TB, I would've put plans on hold (if I were the fiance, I would've avoided him like the "plague"). The feds obviously didn't communicate well. Although mandatory quarantine laws have always been on the books, they are hesitant to use them. PATRIOT 1 & 2 (not that our pres and any lawmakers have actually read what they signed) provide other "emergency" powers. If this guy got drunk and said something like he'd like to see W strung up, he'd probably be shakin' bugs out of his sandals in Gitmo by sunrise. HIPAA (from Bubba) says that nobody, even in a public health emergency, can tell people who he is. So for all you folks in the wedding pics, smile, take a deep breath, and cough your lungs out. Did the groom do the traditional dance/hug/kiss with his mother-in-law at the wedding? Bofug

Gwin

Wed, 30 May 2007 15:31:15 -0500

I don't care how "intelligent" this guy says he is - he is clearly a selfish asshat.

JM

Wed, 30 May 2007 14:01:23 -0500

I wonder if his -- cough, cough -- new bride has anything to say about marrying someone down half a lung from the start.

entitled to the max

Wed, 30 May 2007 13:43:41 -0500

If this guy isn't a posterchild for Entitlement, I don't know what is? TB is not your common cold. I hope when they do the autopsy on him, they'll see he has no heart. and his karma payback will never end for generations and generations. He's a lawyer, he has health insurance, he has money for a honeymoon to france, greece, italy etc.

diseasedetective

Wed, 30 May 2007 13:35:26 -0500

The other person is right, typhus and thyphoid are different organisms. Typhus is a tick-borne disease and typhoid is what typhoid mary had. See the NYC department of health webpage and then click on the health topics A-Z and click on typoid fever.

Jen Chung

Wed, 30 May 2007 13:23:31 -0500

The AJC interview with the TB groom is great. He complains about the CDC not flying him back on their jet immediately and insists the CDC didn't explicitly say he couldn't go on his honeymoon.

Peter

Wed, 30 May 2007 13:21:34 -0500

Consider the CDC's actions in all this. The man has a deadly disease, and the only treatment available is at a hospital in Denver. He wants to get married first, and asks the CDC if it's okay for him to go to Europe for a honeymoon. They say it's okay. The CDC then decides that the disease is too contagious for the man to be allowed to travel. They tell him to report to the health authorities in Italy, a country where he probably knows no one and where his health insurance is unlikely to provide coverage, and that's not even mentioning the fact that the only treatment is in Denver. He then asks, very reasonably, if the CDC can bring him back to America using its own plane - and is told there's no money in the budget! As far as I'm concerned, the top brass at the CDC should be fired on the spot and forfeit all their pension rights.

hashashin

Wed, 30 May 2007 13:21:29 -0500

Actually, Typhoid Mary carried typhoid fever, which is different from typhus.

Max

Wed, 30 May 2007 13:20:58 -0500

He is going to be responsible for killing some Roman's grandmother- he WILL be sorry.

great manhunt

Wed, 30 May 2007 12:14:52 -0500

Great, now there's a global search for all the people this guy had contact with on the plane and anywhere else. Including the Rental Car. Can you imagine all the people he may of put in Danger? I feel bad for anyone who may contract this strain resistant TB. Did I mention that this guy's a lawyer? Of course, he's white.

disgusted

Wed, 30 May 2007 12:07:49 -0500

He has no excuse for not turning himself into the authorities in Rome once he had been reached by the CDC. Taking that flight home exposed hundreds- not just the airplane, but the airports, the cab he probably took, the hotel, etc. If anyone has been infected, he should be arrested and charged.

typical riche

Wed, 30 May 2007 12:03:49 -0500

How come they don't mention the race of this guy? I say he's white, and selfish.

what a jerk

Wed, 30 May 2007 12:03:19 -0500

"I'm a very well-educated, successful, intelligent person," he told the paper. "This is insane to me that I have an armed guard outside my door when I've cooperated with everything other than the whole solitary-confinement-in-Italy thing." Sounds like he'd fit in in New York. "I'm so smart that other people couldn't possibly know what they are talking about. And it's my right to do what I want no matter who I put in harms way."

terrist

Wed, 30 May 2007 12:01:14 -0500

ooh, Canada's borders are easy to get through?

Outer Burrougher

Wed, 30 May 2007 11:53:19 -0500

How intelligent can you be if you have a serious, communicable disease that you have been told is extremely resistent to treatment and you still essentially trap people in an enclosed space for up to eight hours? You had to sneak back into the country, but didn't think you were doing anything wrong? Maybe the CDC shouldn't have been so nice, but I believe the words I'm looking for in regards to the patient are "fuck" and "you".