TB patient’s name released; father-in-law works at CDC
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — The man infected with potentially fatal tuberculosis is receiving treatment at a Denver, Colorado, hospital as federal health officials continue to track down airline passengers who may have been exposed to the illness.
The man has been identified by multiple medical and law enforcement sources as Andrew Speaker, 31, a lawyer from Atlanta, Georgia. Hospital officials have not disclosed his name.
Speaker’s father-in-law works for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, an agency spokesman said Thursday.
The father-in-law, Robert C. Cooksey, is a microbiologist who has conducted research on tuberculosis for the National Center for Infectious Diseases, according to a CDC biography posted on the agency’s Web site.
CNN affiliate WSB-TV reported that Cooksey gave his son-in-law, Speaker, “fatherly advice” after he found out his son-in-law had contracted the infectious disease, but did not advise him in any official capacity.
Cooksey did not immediately return a call to his work number seeking comment.
Speaker was put in isolation at Atlanta’s Grady Hospital after tests last week confirmed he had extremely drug-resistant TB, or XDR TB, the most dangerous form of the illness.
He was transferred to Denver on Thursday morning on a private aircraft, hospital officials said.
A spokesman for Denver’s National Jewish Medical and Research Center said Speaker was wearing a mask and was escorted by federal marshals when he arrived, but seemed normal otherwise.
“He looked kind of like you guys, more or less,” spokesman William Allstetter told reporters.
He said Speaker told him he felt fine.
Source: www.cnn.com
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