<p>What bothers me is that by not disclosing his illness he took the right of choice away from others. If I was sitting next to him on the plane I would want to have a choice in whether or not I sat next to him, moved or got off the plane. He knowingly made the choice for those people.</p>
<p>Well that point about denying others the right to choose applies to the people who don’t shower or use deodorant and choose seats next to mine.</p>
<p>well, I guess that could also be potentially deadly :)</p>
<p>this event reiminds me of a bad lifetime or scifi channel movie, and the threat in the media is out of porportion to the real medical threat</p>
<p>that being said, hope that honeymoon was worth it</p>
<p>its one of the times when coincendences may just be that, but on the other hand, the conspiracy nut in me wonders…</p>
<p>I often seen people in SF wearing surgical masks on the bus the street, and I never know if they are trying to keep something in or things out…so eh, if he traveled in a mask on the plane, I wouldn’t have even noticed</p>
<p>I personally think that more coverage of this issue should focus on the over use of antibiotics, which adds to the problem of drug resistant diseases</p>
<p>We use antibiotics for everything, way too much, and it is affecting how we treat diseases and what is effect</p>
<p>That’s a great point about the antibiotic issue. This would be a great time for providing that education. I have to confess that I’m fixated on this story.</p>
<p>I agree that this will take time to play out, but I am bothered by people jumping to attack this guy without all the facts. From what I have read, and as cathymee pointed out, the current theory is that he may have contracted TB when doing volunteer work in Vietnamese orphanages. That would hardly qualify him as " just another selfish human being", sax.
</p>
<p>As I mentioned earlier, he felt ditched by the CDC. Whether he was or not is unclear, but that is how he felt.
</p>
<p>This fellow is not stupid. If all the facts were clear before he left for Europe, and he knew his strain of TB was that resistent to treatment and that he was at serious risk of dying or of infecting many others, he probably wouldn’t have gone (my hypothesis). But that wasn’t known until after he left. They discussed the risk/benefits before the family left. It wasn’t a hasty decision and it wasn’t made without input from others.</p>
<p>Maybe I wouldn’t choose to have myself or my child to sit next to him on the plane, but for all I know I might have sat next to him in a restaurant in town sometime over the past few months. Those of you who do not live in our fair city have less to worry about than we do. I think it is best to lighten up a bit and wait until more is known before we start calling people names. Haven’t we learned from the Duke case that we shouldn’t rush to judgement?? Just my opinion.</p>
<p>After seeing how the press jumps all over these kinds of stories, and blowing them way up, I am interested, but not fearful</p>
<p>Again better to talk about antibiotics, and the fear used to sell those products</p>
<p>For a great overview on the problems of MDR TB, and by extension, XDR, I recommend Mountains Beyond Mountains, a book about one of my personal heroes–Paul Farmer. He has been extensively involved in humane and effective methods to curtail the development of, and treat the spread of, MDR TB.</p>
<p>I sort of feel sorry for this man, and also am not inclined to rush to judgment, and think it’s weird and wrong that his medical information is a running major headline. That’s sort of creepy, that his personal information is broadcast over and over again…</p>
<p>ANY sort of mass travel system today seems to be loaded with opportunities to get very, very sick. Airplane seats are just disgusting - they actually smell bad most of the time - and that’s before you even get into the issue of the health and bathing habits of the people you have to sit next to. And bathrooms on airplanes, and in airports - they’re just horrible. Just THINKING about the huge numbers of persons walking around and traveling on airplanes who do not have health insurance, and therefore who have not visited a doctor recently is enough to make one sick. Who knows what you breathe in when you’re on a plane, especially if it’s a long flight. </p>
<p>And it’s not just airplanes. A few months ago I was in a seat on the Washington Metro (this is an improvement - usually during rush hour you’re standing in very close contact with any number of strangers of various bathing practices) and the man in the seat directly in front of me had small WORMS crawling around in his hair. I noticed when a few of them started dropping off onto his collar, which was a different color than his hair so the worms were really obvious. Too big to be lice and who knows what they were. I moved ASAP. </p>
<p>And then there’s my personal favorite - the TSA people who open luggage and search through it, leaving who even knows what kind of germs on other people’s personal belongings…sure they wear gloves (or do they, when they’re out of sight?) but they still breathe, sneeze, cough, etc. </p>
<p>So, one otherwise healthy lawyer with financial resources carrying TB doesn’t scare me nearly as much as the unknown threats from persons without health insurance, and public facilities that are not clean…</p>
<p>"
And it’s not just airplanes. A few months ago I was in a seat on the Washington Metro (this is an improvement - usually during rush hour you’re standing in very close contact with any number of strangers of various bathing practices) and the man in the seat directly in front of me had small WORMS crawling around in his hair. I noticed when a few of them started dropping off onto his collar, which was a different color than his hair so the worms were really obvious. "</p>
<p>We need a way to alert readers of posts that make you want to vomit.</p>
<p>
LOL!! </p>
<p>What branch of the legislature do you think your METRO-rider-with-worms works for, latetoschool?? :D</p>
<p>I know, right? And I usually prefer the Metro because it’s faster, and more fun, plus it’s interesting watching all the people. Unless they have worms. Taxis are notoriously filthy…scary places actually…yuck…ick…</p>
<p>At least, the Washington Metro, the seats are some sort of plastic material that can easily be washed and disinfected - although I feel very horribly sorry for the person who next sat in the seat of the person who had the worms. Comparatively, the fabric of airplane seats, not even. And while I am sure they’re vaccumed (sp??) they certainly are NOT shampooed between flights…so…every time I board a plane and get my seat, I’m hoping and praying the prior occupants were not infested with something. </p>
<p>Which is why all of the media stuff on this man irritates me - TB is a serious matter, of course, but, it’s not as if mass public transit is in any way a healthy environment in the first place…</p>
<p>
Are you saying the man-with-worms is a right-winged politician, latetoschool??</p>
<p>(edit) 
:D</p>
<p>Thanks, lts, I’m beginning to appreciate my seat-neighbors with B.O. now!</p>
<p>What would Emily Post or Miss Manners recommend here: (1) Ignore the problem; or (2) Point it out? If #2, just how does one do that? “Yo, pal, there are worms in your hair!”</p>
<p>D’yer maker-
It does put things into perspective, now doesn’t it?? However, that said… Those overseas flights with people sitting nearby who (a) who don’t believe in showers and (b) bring equally interesting-smelling food with them to eat during the flight is just… well… DISGUSTING!</p>
<p>^^OMG, don’t even get me started on the horrible smelly yucky food - ugh. </p>
<p>Or, in some ways just as bad, you’ve had a full day of meetings and NO time to eat, ran like a crazy person to make the flight home, you’re starving, it’s a three-four-five hour flight, and someone nearby has awesome, wonderful smelling food - it’s a good thing there’s always air marshalls on those flights out of D.C…otherwise… hee hee (can you imagine asking a complete stranger on a plane, " 'scuse me, sir, were you planning to eat that"…)</p>
<p>JYM626 no way was that a right winger - the worms were, like, irrational, moving and squirming around on the issues whoops I meant to type person. Seriously, though, at first, I sat there, numb, rather in a state of disbelief (are those things WORMS??? Nah…couldn’t BE - REALLY??? was how my brain went)…then, horror sunk in, then, I fled…but kept checking my clothes like all day, worried something got on me…</p>
<p>So, re the TB, well, does this really make things any WORSE? Anyone who flies frequently has almost certainly been exposed to just as bad, or perhaps worse…the difference is that this case people know about it, and, people wouldn’t even know about it had the gentleman not received medical attention (unlike millions of others), and had the media not been so obnoxiously over-reporting it.</p>
<p>I totally agree, LTS.</p>