Was the CDC wrong in their diagnosis? No, they stand by the accuracy of their tests and their actions to quarantine Andrew Speaker in May 2007 for XDR-TB.
The most recent tests of the famous TB patient now show that he has a less severe form of TB; multi-drug resistant TB. The CDC retested its sample from Speaker and announced that their results now match with the new tests run at Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Hospital where Speaker has been kept in isolation for treatment of his TB since he returned to the U.S. in May.
What this means for Speaker is that his prognosis is significantly improved and he will probably not have to have surgery as planned. For those people he possibly exposed on the many flights he took in May to get to his wedding in Europe and his return flight to Canada, the prognosis is improved as well. ALthough the tuberculosis strain is resistant to multiple drugs, it is treatable with other drugs that the XDR form is also resistant to and curable.
According to the CDC, it won't be known until late July or early August whether anyone exposed to TB by Speaker has actually developed TB. The CDC also said that reading the tests for TB is not a simple black and white task. It may never be known why Mr. Speaker's test was first determined to be XDR-TB.
The incident has raised awareness of the public health issues surrounding TB and the fact that dangerous forms have mutated and are resistant to antibiotics. This resistance stems from the over use of antibiotics.
