CDC TO PROVIDE AIRPORTS WITH TB PATIENT LIST SOON

STAY HOME: Health authorities said on Tuesday they had notified 1,100 TB patients that they are subject to travel restrictions to prevent the spread of the disease A new system to prevent travelers in the "open," or infectious phase of tuberculosis (TB) from boarding international flights more than eight hours long will go online next month, a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) official said yesterday.
The rules are even more stringent for patients infected with the rarer and more serious forms of TB, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR).
"People in the infectious phase of MDR or XDR will not be allowed on any flights at all for the safety of other passengers," CDC Deputy Director Chou Chih-hao ( ? ? ?) said.
Health authorities had notified some 1,100 TB patients that they are subject to travel restrictions.
Chou said that 188 multi-drug-resistant TB patients and more than 900 other infectious TB patients have been placed under air travel restrictions.
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