E-mails show TB patient's family did little to help CDC

ATLANTA (AP) — Health officials trying to stop a globetrotting honeymooner with a dangerous form of tuberculosis got little assistance from his lawyer father and his future father-in-law, a TB expert who not only balked at stopping the Greek wedding but went to the ceremony himself, according to e-mails obtained by The Associated Press.

Some of the 181 pages of e-mails, obtained through a public records request, suggest that the 31-year-old groom's father, Ted Speaker, was clipped and combative in phone conversations with health officials.

E-mails from Fulton County officials portray groom Andrew Speaker's father-in-law, CDC microbiologist Robert Cooksey, as initially unhelpful, at least before May 22, when tests showed that Andrew Speaker had a more dangerous form of TB than previously understood.

"This is terrible news. I hope the father-in-law will be more forthcoming now," reads a May 22 e-mail written by Beverly DeVoe-Payton, director of the Georgia Division of Public Health's tuberculosis program, to other state health officials regarding the new test results.

But CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said Tuesday that Cooksey had already begun to cooperate and provided the agency with Speaker's phone number in Europe.

Andrew Speaker, an Atlanta lawyer, sparked an international scare when health officials tried to find — and isolate — him because he was infected with an exceptionally dangerous form of TB that is highly resistant to drugs.

Dr. Andrew Vernon, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention TB researcher who sees patients at the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness, had earlier appealed to Cooksey to help stop the planned wedding in Greece, according to a May 30 e-mail from a Fulton County physician. Cooksey did not put a halt to the plans; instead, he went to the wedding.

Calls to Cooksey's office and home were not immediately returned Tuesday

Ted Speaker also could not be immediately reached for comment. He did not provide needed information either, according to e-mails from state and Fulton County health officials.