Tuberculosis Quarantine; Bush Meeting With Putin
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Under quarantine and under armed guard. For the first time in more than 40 years, federal health officials have ordered a quarantine. The Atlanta area man diagnosed with a rare and often fatal strain of tuberculosis. Meanwhile, though, health officials are just scrambling to find airline passengers he may have put in danger with his global travels. We'll get the details now from CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): It's called XDRTB, Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis. A horrible disease.</s>DR. JULIE GERBERDING, DIRECTOR, CDC: Many of the people who have XDRTB do not survive their infection.</s>COHEN: And now health authorities have learned that a man with this disease was on two transatlantic flights. He traveled on Air France Flight 385 from Atlanta to Paris on May 12th. He flew again on May 24th on Czech Air number 0104 from Prague to Montreal. Then drove by car into the U.S. the same day. The CDC is urging passengers on these flights to get tested for</s>TB. GERBERDING: We have no suspicion that this patient was highly infectious. In fact, the medical evidence would suggest that his potential for transmission would be on the low side. But we know it isn't zero.</s>COHEN: That's why the CDC took the highly unusual step of ordering him to be isolated at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. So who is this man public health authorities are so worried about? He's a resident of the state of Georgia and he knew, and so did health authorities, that he had TB when he got on the plane from Atlanta to Paris. But they didn't know he had the drug resistant kind of TB. They only learned that once he was in Europe. U.S. health authorities contacted him in Europe and told him not to fly home, but he did anyway. And that leaves health authorities searching for the other people on those airplanes who might have been infected.</s>NGUYEN: And Elizabeth Cohen joins us now from Grady Memorial Hospital here in Atlanta. What more do you know about this man's condition as of today?</s>COHEN: Well, this morning's "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" says that the man who's in isolation at Grady Hospital, right behind me, is a lawyer. And he told the newspaper that he's fine. He has no symptoms. He feels fine, even though he does have this drug resistant form of tuberculosis. He told the newspaper he wanted to go on his honeymoon to Europe. He wanted to get on the plane and go and no one told him not to. That's what he says. Health officials dispute that. Betty.</s>NGUYEN: What are the chances -- I know they're looking for the people that were on his flight -- but what are the chances, especially with this form of tuberculosis, that he may have infected others?</s>COHEN: Well, you know what, there was an interesting study that was published in "The New England Journal of Medicine" of something very similar. Someone with TB got on two planes. There was a total of 925 other passengers. And they did a really good job of following up with those passengers. Only 15 of them had TB and they had the latent form. In other words, they weren't actively sick. So fifteen out of 925. It's a relatively small number. This disease is not as infectious as let's say something like chicken pox. It's infectious, but certainly husbands and wives live in the same house and don't always get TB from one another. So, is it infectious, yes. Is it one of the most infectious diseases, most communicable diseases, no.</s>NGUYEN: Of course, we'll be following this as he undergoes treatment for possibly quite some time. Elizabeth Cohen joining us live from Grady Memorial in Atlanta. Thank you.</s>TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And this just in to CNN. We are learning this morning that President Bush is adding a meeting to his July schedule. An important meeting at that. Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting will take place, we understand, July 1st and 2nd, tentatively set for the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. And the visit comes amid some tension between the two countries. Certainly Russia being critical of the U.S. administration and Washington concerned about perceived rolling back of democracy by the kremlin. So, once again, we are learning that the president has adding a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. That meeting scheduled for July 1st and 2nd. Tentatively set, we understand, at the Bush family home in Kennebunkport, Maine. Our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, is working on the story and we will talk to her in just minutes right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Powerful thunderstorms on the move across the front range of the Rockies. Take a listen. Hail. Rain in other parts of the country, but hail right now coming down in buckets in Denver. So thick, look, it actually looked like snow. I thought it was for a moment there. In places it was the sizes of grapes and four inches deep. South of Denver, tornado warnings. And in Fort Collins, lightning popping up all around. It damaged two homes, setting one on fire.</s>NGUYEN: All right. So let me get this straight. It's June. We have tornadoes, hail, and then this dangerous lightning. Chad Myers, it seems like this should be around, what, springtime when you see this breakout?</s>HARRIS: Yes, early spring.</s>NGUYEN: Well, things are going swimmingly for other folks. These two folks. These humpbacks. Yes, those whales have made good progress over the past 24 hours. Moving in the San Francisco Bay and closer to the open sea. And, at last check, mother and calf were less than 10 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge. So, as you recall, they did get turned around and stuck up river more than two weeks ago, but they are headed home it seems. And hopefully that will happen very soon.</s>HARRIS: Iraqi and coalition forces fan out rounding up dozens of suspected insurgents. The U.S. military says five people picked up in Sadr City today were involved with smuggling weapons and militants from Iran. Still no word on the fate of five missing British men. They were kidnapped from an office at the finance ministry yesterday. Let's get you to our White House correspondent now, Suzanne Malveaux. As we reported just a couple of moments ago, President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet in early July. And, Suzanne, do I have the dates right, July 1st and 2nd?</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You do, Tony. This is really interesting that this is actually taking place. It's also really important. The president's going to have a chance to meet with Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, at the G-8 Summit in Germany. That is happening in June. June 6th to the 8th. So they'll have a chance to sit down and talk one on one. But the fact that they are also going to follow up those discussions three weeks later in July, the 1st and the 2nd at Kennebunkport really speaks volumes about this relationship. I want to read to you very briefly a White House statement. They say the president looks forward to the visit as part of the intensive, bilateral dialogue with President Putin. Cooperation between the United States and Russia is important in solving regional conflicts, stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction, combating terrorism and extremism. The presidents will discuss a wide range of issues, including Iran, civil nuclear cooperation and missile defense. The relations between the United States and Russia really has cooled here. And this is an attempt to try to warm those relations once again. Russia is a critical ally when it comes to that missile defense shield. A lot of problems and disputes between these two countries when it comes to sanctioning Iran. Just yesterday, Tony, we were talking about the president coming out, tough sanctions against the Sudanese government. The two members of the U.N. Security Council and allies who were disagreeing with this administration, Russia and China. So, obviously, there's a lot on the table. There are a lot of disagreements between these two leaders. It is very important that they're going to get together one-on-one, in a more personal way in Kennebunkport, to try to hash some of this stuff out. Tony.</s>HARRIS: White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux for us. Suzanne, thank you. Fred Thompson 2008? Well, the guessing game may be over. Former Tennessee senator and TV star Fred Dalton Thompson is reportedly planning to enter the 2008 presidential race. The Web site, the polotico.com, says Thompson plans to announce his entry into the race over the July 4th holiday. Boy, it's going to be a busy time. The report cites advisors to Thompson. The Politico says Thompson has already raised several million dollars and is backed by insiders from three past Republican administrations.</s>NGUYEN: Prayer from the pope. Yes, the parents of a missing British girl take their anguish to the Vatican. We have those details in the</s>NEWSROOM. HARRIS: Heroes in Iraq. U.S. troops and Iraqi police. Filling the law and order void with deadly consequences. That story ahead in the</s>NEWSROOM. NGUYEN: And the new hurricane season just two days away, can you believe it? We'll find out what researchers are doing to make homes and businesses safer. You're in the NEWSROOM.