TUBERCULOSIS, MDR, AIRPLANE EXPOSURE - MULTICOUNTRY (02) *********************************************** A ProMED-mail post ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases Date: Sat 29 Jul 2007 Source: Reuters [edited] China tracks down missing Taiwan TB patients --------------------------------------------------- China has tracked down 2 Taiwanese tuberculosis (TB) patients who defied a flight ban, Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control said on Saturday [28 Jul 2007]. The patients, a 55-year-old man suffering a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis and his 57-year-old wife who has standard tuberculosis and is infectious, were found in the eastern province of Jiangsu on Friday [27 Jul 2007], the CDC and China's official Xinhua news agency said. The couple, who took a flight from the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung to Hong Kong and then boarded a plane to Nanjing in mainland China on Wednesday [25 Jul 2007], have been transferred to hospital, Xinhua quoted China's Ministry of Health as saying. Health authorities in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China launched a hunt for the couple and passengers who sat near them on the flights. "The family members of these patients have been uncooperative, providing inconsistent information regarding the patients whereabouts, and later proved to be misleading," Taiwan's CDC said in a statement on its Web site: . "Therefore, they will be subjected to legal liabilities in view of the aforementioned," said the CDC. Xinhua did not say why the couple had broken rules against air travel for infectious tuberculosis patients, but Taiwanese officials said earlier that the man and wife had gone to stay with relatives in Nanjing. Taiwan prohibits people with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis from any air travel and those who flout the rules can be fined T DOL 150 000 (US DOL 4560). The couple's flight comes after a U.S. lawyer set off international alarms in May [2007] for fleeing across borders when he was thought to be infected with the most dangerous form of TB, or extensively drug-resistant TB, which is extremely difficult to treat. TB is a highly infectious disease that is spread by coughing and sneezing. It kills about 1.6 million people a year. One in 3 people worldwide is infected with dormant TB bacteria but it is only when a person's immunity is low that the TB bacteria becomes active and symptoms show. -- Communicated by: ProMED Rapporteur Mary Marshall [For a discussion of contagious tuberculosis in airplane travellers, see the moderator's comments of the prior ProMED posting (Tuberculosis, MDR, airplane exposure - multicountry 20070727.2418.) The above news release says that health authorities in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China have launched a hunt for passengers who sat near the husband with MDR TB and his wife with contagious antibiotic-susceptible tuberculosis on the flights. However the Taiwan CDC previously stated that since the duration of each flight was less than 8 hours, they believed that risk to other passengers was negligible (see: ), and consequently the Taiwan CDC "does not recommend the passengers and crew to immediately undergo medical examination or X-ray examination." (see: ). - Mod.ML] [see also: Tuberculosis, MDR, airplane exposure - multicountry 20070727.2418 Tuberculosis, XDR, airplane exposure - multicountry (04) 20070609.1888 Tuberculosis, XDR, airplane exposure - multicountry (03) 20070601.1778 Tuberculosis, XDR, airplane exposure - multicountry (02) 20070530.1752 Tuberculosis, XDR, airplane exposure - multicountry (USA, France, Canada, Czech Rep.) 20070529.1738] .............................ml/ejp/dk *##########################################################* ************************************************************ ProMED-mail makes every effort to verify the reports that are posted, but the accuracy and completeness of the information, and of any statements or opinions based thereon, are not guaranteed. The reader assumes all risks in using information posted or archived by ProMED-mail. ISID and its associated service providers shall not be held responsible for errors or omissions or held liable for any damages incurred as a result of use or reliance upon posted or archived material. ************************************************************ Become a ProMED-mail Premium Subscriber at ************************************************************ Visit ProMED-mail's web site at . Send all items for posting to: [log in to unmask] (NOT to an individual moderator). If you do not give your full name and affiliation, it may not be posted. Send commands to subscribe/unsubscribe, get archives, help, etc. to: [log in to unmask] For assistance from a human being send mail to: [log in to unmask] ############################################################ ############################################################