DENVER-
The man quarantined with a rare strain of tuberculosis will likely spend about two months in a Denver hospital while he receives a battery of drugs and is evaluated for possible surgery, one of his doctors said Friday.
Andrew Speaker could soon be taking at least a dozen pills a day to kill the TB infection, which Dr. Gwen Huitt said was about the size of a tennis ball. She said chest X-rays and a CT scan that confirmed that were performed outside his room late Thursday, when the hospital was mostly empty.
Another test has indicated that Speaker is not very contagious because he was not coughing out TB bacteria, Huitt said. The test, which will be repeated twice more, requires him to inhale an irritating salt water solution, stimulating a deep cough. His sputum is then checked for TB bacteria.
Despite that, an unknown number of patients have canceled appointments at the hospital, fearful of being in the same building as Speaker.
“I can assure everyone in the public that they are safe to come into our facility,” Huitt said.
Huitt said if doctors can’t find a drug combination to kill the extremely drug-resistant strain, Speaker could undergo surgery after about a month. The surgery would be performed at the nearby University of Colorado Hospital, Huitt said.
Speaker was flown from Atlanta to Denver on Thursday accompanied by federal marshals. Dr. Charles Daley, chief of the National Jewish Hospital’s infectious-disease division, said Wednesday that the hospital had been in contact with the federal Centers for Disease Control “weeks ago” regarding Speaker’s treatment.
A hospital spokesman said Friday he couldn’t elaborate on exactly when the hospital got involved in Speaker’s case, and the CDC declined comment.
Steven Katkowsky, director of Georgia’s Fulton County health department, said county officials told Speaker on May 10 that he should seek specialized care in Denver but he didn’t believe anyone in his office made specific arrangements for Speaker at National Jewish.
The federal isolation order was still in effect Friday, but there was no guard outside Speaker’s door. Huitt stressed that Speaker was cooperating and eager to get treatment but that, if he tried to leave, hospital security guards would stop him.
Denver police said they weren’t aware of the federal quarantine order.
Aside from medical staff, Speaker’s new wife, Sarah, and other family were the only people allowed to visit Speaker’s second-floor hospital room, which has two single beds, two desks, two television sets, a small bathroom and an exercise bike.
Speaker’s wife has been advised to wear a mask when she visits him, but sometimes family members choose not to.
In a statement released through the hospital Friday, Speaker thanked people who have said they are praying for his family. “Their good wishes mean so much to us during this difficult time,” he said.
