TB or not TB

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr wants to know about the tuberculosis patient.

As a member of the Senate health committee, the Winston-Salem Republican is asking questions about a man with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis who crossed the Canadian border this spring, Barb Barrett reports.

Burr and Sen. Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican, have requested answers from U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt about quarantines and health emergencies.

Their questions follow the case of an Atlanta-area man who traveled overseas after being diagnosed with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. The man, a U.S. citizen, eluded authorities and snuck back into the United States across the Canadian border.

"This incident highlights that gaps in the system still remain," Burr and Gregg wrote in a letter to Leavitt on Monday.

Their questions for Leavitt after the jump.

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The senators want to know:

* At what point can federal authorities help state and local officials with a forced quarantine?

* What changes in the law need to be made so federal officials can prevent a patient from traveling?

* Would a program to monitor infectious diseases along the Canadian border — similar to an existing program with the Mexican border — have prevented the man’s re-entry?

* Was it difficult to get passenger lists for the flights the man was on?

* What lessons has the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control learned from this incident?

The senators have asked for a "timely response" from Leavitt.