- Hello Jeff -- As I read the latest information on
the background of the now-identified XDR TV traveler - Attorney Andrew
Speaker - and his new father-in-law - Dr. Robert C. Cooksey, amazingly
a CDC microbiologist SPECIALIZING in TB epidemiology(!) - many, many questions
arise.
-
- I am wondering if others are having similar questions.
-
- First of all, Dr. Cooksey made a statement that his XDR
TB son-in-law, Andrew, did NOT become infected from him (Dr. Cooksey) or
from his labs at the CDC. Now WHY would Dr. Cooksey jump forward so quickly
to immediately deny ANY involvement with Andrew Speaker's infection? I
found that to be an odd statement to make.
-
- We also learned that Andrew Speaker was to be detained
at the US/Canadian border...and the border agent told to don protective
gear. Yet, that same agent allowed Speaker back into the US.
-
- * How did Andrew Speaker become infected with this very
rare form of XDR TB?
-
-
- * Why did the border agent disregard orders and simply
allow Mr. Speaker and his wife, Sarah to proceed back into the US?
-
-
- * Why did Mr. Speaker bother to fly home via Canada,
if he had intended to turn himself in as he stated. If he had landed at
JFK or in Atlanta, the CDC would have met him and taken him directly to
the hospital. Why go to, yet, another country?
-
-
- * Mr. Speaker is purported to be a successful lawyer.
Didn't he realize that he can be held liable and sued if any of the people
he put at risk test positive for TB?
-
-
- * How much did Dr. Cooksey know about Mr. Speaker's
plans and when did he know them? As father of the bride, I would think
Dr. Cooksey played a large part in the wedding preparations for his daughter.
He knew that Speaker was TB-infected, MDR TB at that. His expertise with
TB should have compelled him to convince his daughter and Mr. Speaker to
postpone the wedding.
-
-
- * Was Dr. Cooksey part of the wedding? Was he in the
US during the time that Speaker went abroad?
-
-
- * Was Mr. Speaker given special privileges by the CDC
because he is related to Dr. Cooksey at the CDC?
-
-
- * Was Mr. Speaker's oddesy planned by Dr. Cooksey as
some sort of epidemiological test? Was he allowed to travel as a means
of helping the CDC to get more quarantine laws into effect or to enable
the US government to access foreign air carrier lists? Was this part of
some pandemic simulation?
-
-
- As we speak, H7N2 in Wales in infecting people via human-to-human
transmisison. H7N2 normally does not readily infect humans. There had
been an outbreak of H5N1 in the UK in the Fall, 30 miles from this current
outbreak. If H7N2 with its new trend to easily spread from human-to-human
shares genetic material with H5N1, we may just have a pandemic of bird
flu to worry about.
-
-
- Patty
-
- I found the following statements to be quite odd.
-
- Speaker's father-in-law has worked at the CDC for 32
YEARS and is in the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, where he works
with TB and other organisms. He has co-authored papers on diabetes, TB
and other infectious diseases.
-
- "As part of my job, I am regularly tested for TB.
I do not have TB, nor have I ever had TB," he said in a statement.
"My son-in-law's TB did not originate from myself or the CDC's labs,
which operate under the highest levels of biosecurity."
-
- In a brief telephone interview with the AP, Cooksey said
that he gave Speaker "fatherly advice" when he learned the young
man had contracted the disease.
-
- "I'm hoping and praying that he's getting the proper
treatment, that my daughter is holding up mentally and physically,"
Cooksey said. "Had I known that my daughter was in any risk, I would
not allow her to travel."
-
- Patricia A. Doyle DVM, PhD
- Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural Economics
- Univ of West Indies
-
-
-
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at:
- http://www.emergingdisease.org/phpbb/index.php
- Also my new website:
- http://drpdoyle.tripod.com/
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
-
|
