Sorry to dredge up an old thread, but it seems appropriate to keep this all together.

I was just reading yesterday that Andrew Speaker will be served with a $1.3 million lawsuit shortly by 9 of his fellow airplane passengers (actually, 8 passengers and the brother of one of them). Although none of the eight have tested positive, they're suing for all the worry and anxiety he caused them. Since Mr. Speaker is a personal injury attorney, I'm sure he has a good idea what's coming down the road.

I don't bring this up just to beat up on this guy. I just think it's useful to hear some follow-up after some sensational news story and the repercussions that people face when they make certain decisions, whether it's getting on a plane with TB, getting lost in the wilderness and triggering a massive SAR operation, etc. If nothing else, it's quite common that so-called "facts" turn out to be wrong later on. Case in point...

A month or two ago, the CDC announced that Speaker doesn't actually have the most dreaded form of TB--the extensively drug-resistant (XDR) kind--but a strain that is resistant to some drugs but still susceptible to others. It baffles me how the CDC could have gotten that wrong. But when the CDC tested some of the samples taken from him when he first arrived at National Jewish Medical Center, they discovered the discrepancy. I guess some could argue that the CDC subjected Speaker to some mental anguish by telling him he had the worst possible kind of TB.