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Monday 12 November 2007

Aftermath report on the Speaker fiasco

Breaches in security that allowed a U.S. tuberculosis patient to defy health officials and fly to Europe and back in May can be at least partly fixed with faster communication and better training, according to a federal government report.A report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on its handling of the matter shows a need for more coordination between airlines and federal agencies in such emergencies, including quick transmission of passenger information.A copy of the "After Action Report" obtained by Reuters on Thursday shows a lack of clear standard operating procedures allowed Atlanta lawyer Andrew Speaker to fly to Greece and Italy for his wedding and honeymoon against direct advice from authorities and then sneak back into the United States. .The report, which has been circulating among congressional staffers, says local officials also need to be told of new, flexible CDC powers to stop people from traveling. Local officials in Georgia said they could not legally act until Speaker had already disobeyed their orders.Better and faster tests for TB are also needed. Speaker did not learn that he had anything but ordinary TB for weeks because testing is so slow.Cetron noted that the CDC has only half the number of staff needed to properly watch travelers at ports of entry as recommended by the Institute of Medicine. A 2005 report from the Institute said CDC needed 1 inspector for every 750,000 travelers."I think there is this idea out there that somehow we will be erecting impenetrable fortresses at ports of entry that, rendered well, will leave us impervious to infectious diseases. That's just not going to happen," Cetron said in a telephone interview.
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