TB Patient, Family Ties Revealed

They're just after my money, says newlywed

(NEWSER) - Nine airline passengers are suing the Atlanta lawyer infected with a rare TB strain who flew to Europe for his wedding despite CDC warnings not to travel. The $1.3 million suit filed in Montreal claims Andrew Speaker recklessly exposed them to a deadly disease. The passengers, seven Canadians and two from the Czech Republic, flew from Prague to Montreal on Speaker's flight. More»

Runaway lawyer's disease less dangerous than initially thought

(NEWSER) - TB patient Andrew Speaker is not quite as sick as planeloads of people feared, Reuters reports. A doctor from Speaker's Denver hospital says the Atlanta lawyer, who flew to Europe despite warnings that he was highly contagious, doesn't have XDR—or extensively drug-resistant—tuberculosis, but rather the more treatable multi-drug-resistant strain. More»

Docs will remove tubercular portion of Andrew Speaker's lung; could clear the disease

(NEWSER) - The TB traveler will go under the knife to remove a tennis-ball sized area of infected lung tissue, his doctors said today. Andrew Speaker, who triggered an international health crisis last month when he took a transatlantic flight while infected with an extremely drug-resistant strain of TB, will undergo surgery in July. More»

Finger-pointing over TB patient's travels spreads across two continents

(NEWSER) - The Atlanta lawyer whose honeymoon baggage included a dangerous strain of TB is at the center of a contentious international public-health dispute. The Times reports on the conflicting accounts of warnings issued to Andrew Speaker and the governments of the countries he visited. Meanwhile, other American passengers on his flights have tested negative for TB. More»

(NEWSER) - With panic over the H1N1 flu virus on the wane, some Americans are pondering allowing themselves to become infected in hopes of building immunity against potentially more virulent strains, the New York Times reports. Doctors are split on the idea. "I think it's totally nuts," says a flu specialist. "We don't know enough about how this virus could react." More»