ATLANTA - The honeymooner who traveled from the US to Europe and back again with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis was identified Thursday as 31-year-old Andrew Speaker, a personal injury lawyer in private practice with his father in Atlanta. "Not anymore he isn't," corrected Speaker's father, Beauregard. (Andrew Speaker is pictured above arriving for treatment in the United States, explaining that he has "no symptoms whatsoever" and that he feels "fine.")
Centers for Disease Control officials condemned Speaker's conduct of exposing numerous air travelers to the risk of infection: "This man's wanton disregard for others is totally reprehensible behavior, even for a personal injury lawyer," the CDC said in a written statement.
Speaker's new father-in-law, Bob Cooksey, a CDC microbiologist specializing in the spread of TB, admitted that Speaker may have come into contact with the virus when Cooksey accidentally served Speaker a "Scotch and Concentrated TB Virus" instead of his usual Scotch and Water about a month ago.
The American Medical Association spearheaded the movement to quarantine Speaker. An AMA spokesman said last night that the AMA also supports quarantining all personal injury lawyers, "in case they have this same disease."
Speaker's new father-in-law, Bob Cooksey, a CDC microbiologist specializing in the spread of TB, admitted that Speaker may have come into contact with the virus when Cooksey accidentally served Speaker a "Scotch and Concentrated TB Virus" instead of his usual Scotch and Water about a month ago.
The American Medical Association spearheaded the movement to quarantine Speaker. An AMA spokesman said last night that the AMA also supports quarantining all personal injury lawyers, "in case they have this same disease."
