Science
(2007-07-13)
Andrew Speaker (right), pictured with his father Ted
(courtesy Speaker Law Firm website)
The man who flew across the Atlantic and back with tuberculosis is now being sued.
Eight people who were on the same flight as Andrew Speaker from Prague to Montreal in late May are suing him in Canada for one-point-three million dollars, as a result of their possible exposure to the disease.
The suit was filed on behalf of seven Canadians and two natives of the Czech Republic, including a man who is a brother and roommate of a passenger.
Speaker is an Atlanta attorney who was in Europe when he was told he didn't just have T-B, but an extremely drug-resistant strain of it. Despite warnings from health officials not to board another long flight, he flew to Montreal and then crossed into the U-S -- where he became the first American quarantined by the federal government since 1963.
He's now undergoing treatment under isolation in Denver.
Health officials now say his strain of T-B isn't as resistant to as many drugs as they thought -- but that it's still more serious than regular strains of T-B.
© Copyright 2012, Associated Press
