Attorney in 2007 tuberculosis scare sues CDC

ATLANTA – An Atlanta attorney at the center of an international health scare when he flew to Europe for his wedding even though he was infected with a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis is suing federal health officials, claiming they invaded his privacy.

Andrew Speaker said Wednesday that federal officials knew he was infected with the sometimes deadly lung disease before he left in 2007 and advised him to begin treatment when he returned. Once he was overseas, however, doctors urged him to return because they thought he had a more severe form of the disease. Later tests revealed he had contracted a less dangerous strain.

In the lawsuit, Speaker said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials gave him the go-ahead to leave and then pinned the blame on him.

"The whole point of the lawsuit describes how the CDC knew I had TB before I left," he said in a telephone interview. "All the sudden, I get over there and they hold this big press conference."

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Atlanta on Tuesday claims the CDC damaged Speaker's reputation and made him the target of death threats. It also says he and his new bride split up because of the stress and seeks unspecified damages and court fees.

It accuses the CDC of "unlawfully and unnecessarily" revealing Speaker's private medical history and other sensitive information during an extensive media blitz in May 2007.

CDC spokesman Tom Skinner declined to comment.

"We are not in a position to have anything to say about pending litigation," he said.

Speaker, a plaintiff's attorney, was in Europe for his wedding and honeymoon when he learned tests showed he had an extremely drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis known as XDR-TB. He'd been advised not to fly to Europe in the first place, but at that point he'd been diagnosed with a less severe strain.

Despite warnings from health officials not to board another international flight, Speaker flew to Montreal and drove over the American border.

He subsequently became the first American quarantined by the federal government since 1963, and was treated in a Denver hospital. Health officials there learned that Speaker was infected with a less severe strain of the disease.

The lawsuit also seeks records of his test results that he said the CDC has failed to turn over despite repeated requests using the Freedom of Information Act. The complaint, he said, aims to set the record straight.

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