Help Taiwan health authorities find this escapee!

[Dragonbones]

taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_c … ety_TAIWAN
taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003412167
tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/ … /zauf.html

There’s a TB patient on the run.
He was last seen taking a train from Kaohsiung to Pingtung on Thursday afternoon.
He’s bald, 56 yo, 161 cm high, and looks like this:

If you see him you’re supposed to contact the authorities at 1922. His name is Li3 zhen1 zhu3 李真主.

[Mother_Theresa]

Obviously he doesn’t give a shit about others, but why would he flee?

What is the effect of such TB? Is he dying? Any idea how long someone in his condition might live? If it doesn’t kill him, what are the effects of serious TB like that?

Why wouldn’t he take his meds with him, at least? Is he suicidal? Crazy? Do such meds have really bad side effects?

How does TB spread? Coughing or sneezing near others? Just breathing on them in a crowded elevator, etc.

I know none of us knows his particular case, but I wonder if someone has general knowledge that could shed light on this strange story.

[Huang_Guang_Chen]

1. Because he’s a selfish arsehole.
2. Not likley dying, but more likley he has a multiple drug resistant form of TB that makes it considerably harder to treat. Medicos don’t want these types of TB getting around and transforming into super TB which you can’t treat or it could kill millions.
3. He’s an arsehole.
4. How does TB spread? Coughing or sneezing near others? Just breathing on them in a crowded elevator, etc.How does TB spread? Coughing or sneezing near others? Just breathing on them in a crowded elevator, etc. Yes. BVut the thing about TB relative to say, HIV, is that TB can survive in a drop of spit way longer outside the body. TB can take a hell of a pounding and still infect, whereas relatively HIV is weak and dies when conditions are less optimal.

Reminds me of that case of the US lawyer, who’s father in law worked at the CDC on TB infections. He skipped quarantine and flew a number of international flights to make his wedding in Italy.

[quote]TB Patient ID’d As Atlanta Lawyer
May 31 02:34 PM US/Eastern
ATLANTA (AP) - The honeymooner quarantined with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis was identified Thursday as a 31-year-old personal injury lawyer whose new father-in-law is a CDC microbiologist specializing in the spread of TB.

The father-in-law, Bob Cooksey, would not comment on whether he reported his son-in-law to federal health authorities. He said only that he gave 31-year-old Andrew Speaker “fatherly advice” when he learned the young man had contracted the disease.

The CDC had no immediate comment.

“I’m hoping and praying that he’s getting the proper treatment, that my daughter is holding up mentally and physically,” Cooksey told The Associated Press. “Had I known that my daughter was in any risk, I would not allow her to travel.” [/quote]

I don;t recall he was ever charged as he clearly should of been.

HG

[ironlady]

I’m not defending him, but it probably depends somewhat on his level of education. He may not really understand that something he can’t see is able to cause a serious public health problem. Yeah, I’m sure he’s been told, but if you just don’t have much of an education or much experience with the world, it’s hard to believe something like that just because someone tells you. If he’s been forcibly quarantined or something, he may also have mental-health issues by now as a result.

[Icon]

What I find terribly interesting is that this is the second time he escapes:

Lee Chen-chu first made headlines when he and his wife, who also suffered from TB at the time, traveled to China via Hong Kong last July in defiance of a travel ban.

He and his wife were sent to Taichung Hospital for compulsory treatment after being repatriated in late July .

His wife has since been cured and discharged.

Lovely.

[Huang_Guang_Chen]

Then I thinkk it fair to suggest he knew what he was doing and that my assumption was correct. He is an arsehole.

HG

[bismarck]

@ironlady

I’m not defending him, but it probably depends somewhat on his level of education. He may not really understand that something he can’t see is able to cause a serious public health problem. Yeah, I’m sure he’s been told, but if you just don’t have much of an education or much experience with the world, it’s hard to believe something like that just because someone tells you. If he’s been forcibly quarantined or something, he may also have mental-health issues by now as a result.

That is also very true. You see this sort of thing in Africa alot because people aren’t really well educated and don’t fully understand the effects of disease. Which is why in some countries (Like Botswana) infection rates for HIV run as high as 33%. Add to that cultural values that may have been ok 100 or more years ago and you have a serious problem.

But as Huang Guang Chen said, he may just be an arsehole…

[Icon]

Both him and his wife -possibly, the rest of his family, too- have been in the medical system more than a year. If he hasn’t gotten the idea yet … please tell me they don’t have kids.

I go with Huang Guang Chen’s assumption.

[miso]

It’s the same idiot who sat on a plain to China, got caught and sent back to Taiwan again. So glad I’m leaving this island…

[TheGingerMan]

I can see the headline now:
“Crazed TB fugitive taken down by intrepid foreigner…”
Surely he’ll get caught on his own, without some crazed southern forumosan reeling him in…

[Icon]

He’s baaack…

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chang Chia-chun (張嘉郡) said yesterday that she had contacted Lee through a friend of his. Lee promised to resume treatment, asking for an early transfer to another hospital for surgery to remove lesions on his lungs, she said.

The CDC will arrange for Lee, who had previously refused to have the lesions removed, to get proper treatment, Chou said.

“The time and place, however, will not be disclosed,” he said, adding that the CDC will begin an investigation to locate individuals who may have had contact with Lee and arrange for them to have medical examinations if necessary.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/05/20/2003412431

Lovely. He’s got lesions and refuses an operation. His choice to say no, but what about others? Now he’s protected by a legislator and I bet no charges will be made. :fume:

[ironlady]

It’s official – they’re just selfish, although being quarantined in an isolation ward of a Taiwanese hospital for over a year would be enough to drive practically anyone around the bend.

I have a Taiwanese friend who works in the health care system as a drug rep and gets around to most of the major hospitals as a result. She’s familiar with the case. Says that the couple just sits there watching TV and has nothing else to do, and they spend most of their time trying to figure out ways to get out of the hospital. They’ve done it on many occasions according to her. This has been going on for some time. She said that when they traveled before, everyone on the airplane had to be quarantined along with them. Kind of made me think of the kid who went to his buxiban during SARS although his mother was quarantined.

So while it is selfish behavior on their part, it would be nice for someone to try to work out a way to make their enforced isolation just a little bit more interesting. But then again if they’re typically “tai ke” types the TV is about all they would be doing in the outside world anyway…(oh, that was culturally insensitive, wasn’t it?)

I’m thinking a notebook computer, fast Internet and Skype, plus a course in the use of all of the above.