TB flight rules cited as 'faulty and limited'

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Government claims that a Mexican businessman infected with a highly contagious form of tuberculosis posed no serious public health risk by taking numerous domestic flights are based on faulty research and limited data, said a top Harvard physician who specializes in disaster medicine and infectious disease.

"This policy is ill-founded, poorly researched, and puts the population at risk," said Dr. Greg Ciottone, one of the world's leading authorities on disaster medicine, including terrorist attacks and the threat of biological warfare.

World Health Organization tuberculosis guidelines, adopted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only require airplane passengers to be notified of exposure to tuberculosis if the flight lasts more than eight hours.

"If the powers that be, who directly impact the health and well-being of this country, are going to stand by this theory that if you spend up to 7 hours 59 minutes next to someone with active TB you don't need to be tested, then people will become ill," said Dr. Ciottone, who is director of the Operational Medicine Institute and editor in chief of Disaster Medicine.

The Washington Times first disclosed last week that internal DHS documents reveal that Amado Isidro Armendariz Amaya had an active case of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and was traveling unfettered in the U.S. since November, entering the U.S. at least 76 times and taking multiple flights.

Citing the WHO guidelines, neither the CDC nor Homeland Security notified any passengers who flew with Mr. Armendariz that they were exposed to his "dangerous and highly contagious" form of tuberculosis, the same strain involved in the case of Andrew Speaker, whose ability to sneak into the U.S. from Europe via a May flight to Canada prompted national headlines and congressional hearings.

The agencies did, however, notify Mr. Armendariz's family and the customs broker in El Paso, Texas, with whom he usually did business, Customs and Border Protection officials said. Both his immediate family and the customs broker tested negative, CBP officials stated.

"He travels to the U.S. to purchase construction equipment used in constructing high rise buildings. He deals frequently with a local customs house broker. The CDC is attempting to identify the Customs House broker and when they do, they will provide CBP with the information," read an internal DHS e-mail.

Airline passengers on at least 11 flights Mr. Armendariz took in the U.S. were not notified by the CDC, which based its decision on the WHO guidelines.

Not notifying the passengers is a mistake, Dr. Ciottone said.