Number: RL34144
Title: Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR-TB): Emerging Public Health Threats and Quarantine and Isolation
Authors: Kathleen S. Swendiman and Nancy Lee Jones, American Law Division 
Abstract: The international saga of Andrew Speaker, a traveler thought to have XDR-TB, a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, placed a spotlight on existing mechanisms to contain contagious disease threats and raised numerous legal and public health issues. This report presents the factual situation presented by Andrew Speaker; briefly addresses the existing law relating to quarantine and isolation, with an emphasis on the interaction of state and federal laws and international agreements; and examines the relationship of quarantine and isolation to civil rights protections.
Pages: 15
Date: April 1, 2008