News / Health & Wellness
Man with TB identified
Federal officials have finally revealed some information about the TB patient who was put under the first federal quarantine since 1963. They say he is 31-years-old and is a personal injury attorney who practices law in Atlanta with his father.
Officials identified the man as Andrew Speaker. He was first taken to Grady Hospital in Atlanta but has been transferred to the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver where he will be treated. The man has a rare form of TB that doesn’t respond to drugs. Doctors at the hospital say they will put him on two antibiotics and will try to find out where he contracted this rare form of TB. They also hope to find out how contagious it is so they can be better prepared if more people from his flight contracted it.
Hospital spokesman William Allstetter said that he will be put in two rooms with special ventilation. "He may not leave that room much for several weeks," Allstetter said.
Speaker reportedly attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduated from the University of Georgia, got his degree in finance and went back to the University of Georgia’s law school. His father Ted Speaker practices law with him in Atlanta and ran for a Fulton County Superior Court judgeship in 2004. He was not elected.
Officials are still trying to locate passengers who were on his flight. They want every passenger that sat within five rows of him to have a medical exam to make sure no one else is infected.
