Of course, part of what makes the story interesting is the different sides of the story on whether or not he was told to stay put in the US. The man says the CDC just said that it preferred he not travel, while the CDC says that he was emphatically told to stay put. It's hard to say who is right, since patients so often misunderstand instructions from their doctors. (Of course, I'd tend to think that most people who were told by the CDC that it would prefer they not travel would stay at home.)
I suppose one question I have is why in a situation like this the CDC apparently just communicates its wishes (which can then be misinterpreted) and lets the person go. Perhaps the stories I've seen to this point haven't fully explained what the CDC does/doesn't do in this kind of situation, but it seems they may have been relying too much on the man's correct interpretation of their wishes. Given the gravity of the situation, I'd think a more proactive response from the CDC might have been useful. This is doubly true when all the media coverage seems to have evolved to: (1) Why didn't the CDC do more? and (2) What if this man had been a terrorist? Now the man is under quarantine, and I suspect most folks will be wondering why that wasn't done originally.
The LA Times article also includes the information that the XDR TB this man has is "six times more lethal than regular TB." What does that even mean? How lethal is regular TB? The author does a reasonable job explaining the rarity of TB ("Since 1993, there have been just 49 cases in the United States."), but that comment on the severity of the XDR strain isn't informative in any way. I think a little more real information (what percentage of TB cases are fatal, perhaps) would have helped people more fully understand what TB is and how bad this XDR strain is.
Some of these problems fall to the CDC, which could perhaps do a better job of informing the public (and reporters) of what XDR TB is and what they're doing about the situation. The XDR TB page lined to from the home page starts with:
Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB) is a relatively rare type of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB). It is resistant to almost all drugs used to treat TB, including the two best first-line drugs: isoniazid and rifampin. XDR TB is also resistant to the best second-line medications: fluoroquinolones and at least one of three injectable drugs (i.e., amikacin, kanamycin, or capreomycin).How understandable is that to the general public? I'm not saying everything on the page needs to be written at the fourth grade level, but simpler important information presented in a more straightforward format would probably help a great deal in situations like this...
In any event, I think some of the missteps that seem to have been taken with this event will help inform better planning and decisions in the future if something like this ever happens again.
