Does anyone else think the way Mr. Speaker is being treated is wrong? (TB patient in the news)?

Yes the man has TB but they're acting like he's got the EBOLA virus for crying out loud!

The govt is just trying to cover their own butts in my book. Lots of people could have the same thing and not even know it! No coughing, no fever, etc....he's a very blessed man to be able to know it and be treated and instead is being treated as a pariah.

The flight TO Europe is one thing - the doc's obviously didn't tell him not to or make a serious effort to detain him. The flight back is another - although I can understand his fear the US could have made arrangements for him to be flown back privately/with his family instead of just turn yourself in we don't want to deal with you. While I've lived in Europe and have faith in the German/Swiss systym I'm not sure I would have stayed in Italy either.

TB is a treatable diease - even the kind he has in it's early stages.

Actually it's rather funny that you ask if I've seen Tombstone .... I'm FROM Tombstone and Doc Holiday was treatable he chose not to be treated further fyi. Treatments have changed since the 1880's as well - and consumption (as it was called) wasn't always a death sentence. Even the doc's in this case are optomisitc because they caught this strain so early. There are also alternatives to antibiotics which can work if used properly.

Yes, the media LOVES to blow things out of proportion.

He needs to be in Jail, What if your Daughter or Son was on that plane? That was probably the stupidest thing he has ever done in his life. ANd it's still no excuse.

This is a strain of TB that is NOT treatable. He knew he had it. The CDC instructed him NOT to fly and he did anyway. He exposed everyone he came into contact with to his disease. Treating him wrong? I don't think so. And you'd feel quite differently if you were sitting next to him on one of those airplanes!

TB can be a very very serious illness. Its treated by 4 different antibiotics, and there are even some strains now which resist it.

Once someone is diagnosed they are usually quarantined. That alone should indicate the seriousness of the illness.

This fool got on that plane stating he had to get to his wedding? What a dolt. So his intention was to infect every single person he knew/loved?

That's just common sense. Or lack thereof.

I got strep last Winter. I stayed home from work 2 days so my co-workers wouldn't get it.

Have you seen Tombstone, do you want what Doc Holliday had? It was very selfish of him to do what he did and he deserves all of the negative media he is getting. The media needs to cover this as closely as possible because all the people he potentially infected need to know. The guy is a joke and if anyone contracts TB from his wrong-doing then he deserves to be prosicuted.

Do I think his treatment is wrong? Nope

His FIL works at the CDC and knows the dangers of TB which I'm sure he has told his daughter and Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker is a highly educated man and apparently has book knowledge but no smarts because anyone who knows anything about TB knows it can be highly contagious and IT KILLS.

So this guy knows he has it and yet, he still travels even though he was advised not to? He says he wasn't told not to. Well, give me a break and grow up Mr Speaker. He knows how contagious it can be so why does anyone have to TELL him not to travel.... duhhhh

He's negligent and he deserves what he gets. He has a rare strain of TB which is more resistant to treatment so if he has passed that on to anyone else, that means they, too, will have to worry about it.

And there is a school in TX where students are suddenly showing positive tests for TB and they are still waiting for results on alot of others.

As I said, TB kills. My grandmother had it and had scar tissue on her lungs for the rest of her life. Thankfully she survived to share time with her family.

Her one brother had it and died at 38.

Her other brother had it and died at 26.

She had a friend, the person she got it from, who also died when she was in her late 30s.

He was negligent and he was criminal in his actions and he knew it. Why else would he try to sneak in the country from Canada, which he admitted to.....?????

No sympathy from here.

He does have the resistant strain. Its better to be safe. What though, strikes me is that his father in law is a Microbiologist. The fact that his father in law being the communicable disease expert makes this a big, should I say coincidence.

put him away and forget about him... he can infect millons in the world . and maybe even kill some people. lock him up for ever.

Mr. Speaker ignored things that he was advised he shouldn't do - flying was one of them. Not all people will live after being exposed to TB. Before you speak any further, YOU should learn first hand about how TB affects other people. People do suffer and DIE from TB. There may be treatments but who wants to lose everything they own because of an ignorant idiot? This is not a hobby, but a very expensive medical problem. Would your insurance company pay for full coverage?

Putting other people at risk the way he did is totally unacceptable.

He's not an uneducated boob, and his father-in-law is in the business. Even if noone grabbed him by the ear and said DO NOT GET ON THAT AIRPLANE, he knew better.

I've been involved with the CDC in the past due to an odd disease, and I found them to be head and shoulders above the average medical professionals in terms of telling you what to do and what not to do, and disseminating information. I find it hard to believe they didn't make it clear to him that getting on an airplane was a no-no.

That said, there's a lot more to come on this issue. Guaranteed.

Yes, the media always blow things out of proportion, but in this case, I don't think we was treated badly. TB is a treatable disease, yes, but in his case, it's resistant = not hopeful of being treatable. Normal strains already at about 4 different drugs for about a year to treat, and when the patient is in the infectious stage, they're quarantined. IT'S STANDARD PROCEDURE TO QUARANTINE. They stay in one of those hospital rooms and have to wear oxigen masks if they need to go out for a walk. Everyone in contact with them in the room wear oxigen mask in order to not breath in their bacteria. It's a very serious issue. Immigrants with active TB are not allowed into the country until after their treatments.

I think you're thinking it's not serious because there are lots of people who's been exposed to TB, and they're fine. This is because 1) they don't have the resistant strains and 2) even without getting a full blown infection from it, they've already had to had 6-9 months of drugs for it to clear from their system.

Maybe his wife's lucky, but you can't say the same for everyone he's been in contact with. Especially since most of them don't know that they've been exposed to it and wouldn't test for it until they have the full blown disease, and by then it might be too late for them.

With TB being so serious, imagine it being exposed to someone with a weak immune system: an elderly person, someone with AIDS, organ transplants, on treatments with immunocompromised drugs. It very well could be fatal.

I can't imagine it not having been made crystal clear to him how he can transmit this disease. It's about human responsibility, they shouldn't have had to put him in jail for him to not want to infect people.

for an educated man this shows how dumb he is and we are just as dumb if we fall for the lie's anyone knows tb just the sound of it is serious his man took a chance on infecting many people just to get married befor he croked he had no condieration for anyone. just think how many people that was on that plane that is worried right now for themselves and their family have you thought of the medical cost these famlies will have to endure just for the foolisness of one man their lives is on hold