2007 Tuberculosis Scare - Travel Sequence

Travel Sequence

On May 12, 2007, Speaker flew from the U.S. to Paris. On May 14, he flew on to Athens and, two days later, flew to the Aegean holiday island of Santorini for his wedding (Santorini's Mayor Angelos Roussos, states that Speaker lacked the necessary paperwork for the civil ceremony.). Speaker then flew to Rome for his honeymoon.

Doctors say that only after Speaker left the United States did they realize he likely had XDR-TB. Speaker says that he was informed of MDR TB before leaving the country, and that while officials preferred him not to fly, they said that he was not a threat and was not required to wear a mask. Once Speaker was in Europe, however, test results showed his strain of tuberculosis was even rarer than originally thought, leading public health officials to try to persuade Speaker to turn himself in to Italian health authorities. The CDC informed him that there were no options for the CDC to get him home, and that he would have to arrange private transportation. Speaker instead flew by commercial jet to Prague and then on to Montréal. Both Speaker and his new wife claimed that, had they been offered transport, they would have accepted it and would have waited in Rome. Speaker has also said that the CDC told him they were going to send officials to put him in Italian quarantine for up to two years, and that he was not told special transportation was arranged.

Once in Montréal, Speaker rented a car and drove across the Canada – United States border. A Customs and Border Protection Officer failed to detain him at the frontier, disregarding a warning after he had passed Speaker's passport through the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS) to hold the traveler, wear a protective mask when dealing with him, and call health authorities because he "did not look sick".