Man crisscrossed border with TB

Amado Isidro Armendariz Amaya, of Chihuahua, Mexico, who authorities say has a highly contagious form of tuberculosis, entered the United States 76 times between Aug. 14, 2006, and May 31, 2007.

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Article published Oct 18, 2007

By Sara A. Carter and Audrey Hudson

A Mexican national infected with a highly contagious form of tuberculosis crossed the U.S. border 76 times and took multiple domestic flights in the past year, according to Customs and Border Protection interviews and documents obtained by The Washington Times.

The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency was warned by health officials on April 16 that the frequent traveler was infected, but it took Homeland Security officials more than six weeks to issue a May 31 alert to warn its own border inspectors, according to Homeland Security sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. Homeland Security took a further week to tell its own Transportation Security Agency.

Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a highly contagious illness and also resistant to the two most commonly used drugs to treat TB.

It is the same dangerous strain of tuberculosis that concerned health officials when Andrew Speaker, a 31-year-old Atlanta lawyer, slipped into the U.S. from Europe via a flight to Canada. The story set off alarms that the system had failed to identify the contagious passenger, which led to congressional hearings in June...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071018/NATION/110180087/1001&template=printart