For the first time since 1963, a quarantine ordered by the U.S. government has been imposed on a man carrying a rare and dangerous form of tuberculosis. Health authorities around the world are attempting to track down passengers who sat near the man on a recent trans-Atlantic flight, in order to test them for the disease, Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (DCD) director Julie Gerberding said Wednesday. “There are two aspects to this. One is, is the patient himself highly infectious? Fortunately, in this case, he's probably not. But the other piece is this bacteria is a very deadly bacteria. We just have to err on the side of caution,” said Gerberding. Health officials said the man had been advised not to fly and that he knew he could expose others before taking a flight from Atlanta, Georgia to Paris, France, and later from Prague to Montreal, Canada. The man, who did not want to be identified, said that he was not ordered not to fly, but only advised not to, and that doctors had only told him to postpone his wedding plans in Greece. He said he did not realize the form of tuberculosis he was carrying was so dangerous. Health authorities in Europe had reached the man, and told him that his disease was a rare form that was “extensively drug-resistant.” Authorities ordered him into isolation, and told him to turn himself over to Italian officials. However, the man chose to fly to Montreal, and then drove to the United States, because he feared that he would not get the treatment he needed if he did not make it back. The man is now at Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital in respiratory isolation. CDC officials recommended testing for flight attendants, as well passengers who sat within two rows of the man on the flights.
