Medindia LOGIN REGISTER
Medindia

TB Patient Sent Home Better

by Medindia Content Team on Jul 27 2007 3:39 PM

Tuberculosis patient Andrew Speaker who hit the headlines after the CDC ordered his bride and him into medical isolation, is back home.

Speaker, a lawyer from Atlanta, got eight weeks of treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) at Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Center. On July 17, Speaker had lung surgery to remove a tennis-ball sized piece of his lung that was infected by tuberculosis.

Dr.Gwen Huitt from the National Jewish Medical and Research Center was quoted: "Treatment for Mr. Speaker went very well, and we were able to release him more quickly than we originally anticipated.”

Yet, Speaker's TB treatment is not over. He will have to keep taking antibiotics for two years, though his TB is no longer detectable and is not contagious.

"Although we believe there are still a few tuberculosis bacteria in his lungs, ongoing antibiotic therapy should kill those. We expect him to return to a full and active life," said Huitt, who directs the Adult Infectious Disease Care Center at National Jewish Medical and Research Center.

"I really appreciate the quality of care I have gotten from all the people at National Jewish. Thanks to all they do, patients like me are able to walk out of here not only well, but better in so many ways”, Speaker was reported.

Speaker's parents met him when the air ambulance landed in Georgia and drove him to an undisclosed location, according to National Jewish. Speaker will be reporting to county health officials in Georgia as he begins two years of directly observed therapy.

Source-Medindia
ANN/C


Advertisement