Congress demands TB case investigation

By Sara A. Carter and Audrey Hudson - Lawmakers on Capitol Hill today criticized Homeland Security officials for allowing a Mexican national infected with a highly contagious form of tuberculosis to cross U.S. borders 76 times and take multiple flights on U.S. airlines.

Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine — ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee — and John Cornyn of Texas are demanding an investigation of the agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"This troubling incident appears to be another outrageous failure of a border security system that is struggling to keep pace with modern threats," Miss Collins said. "It is disturbing that DHS does not have better systems in place for collecting, disseminating, and acting on such information. Following the incident with Mr. Speaker, DHS and the Centers for Disease Control instituted a formal memorandum of understanding to govern information sharing.

"Either that new procedure was not yet in place at the time of this incident or those changes were inadequate. DHS and the CDC must investigate and take corrective action to ensure that the technology, procedures, and training are in place to prevent incidents like these in the future,” Miss Collins said.

Mr. Cornyn added: "DHS must immediately respond to any potential public safety and health threat posed by individuals and effectively communicate those threats to all staff."

“I urge the department to fully investigate this matter and provide me a briefing as soon as possible," Mr. Cornyn said.

Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican and ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said, "These allegations clearly demand an explanation. [DHS] is responsible for protecting our nation from a number of different threats, and any potential security breach must be addressed immediately."

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 another week to tell its own Transportation Security Agency.

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