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Health Highlights: June 5, 2007

ByABC News
March 24, 2008, 12:08 AM

Mar. 23 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments,compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Atlanta Man's Third TB Test Negative

Andrew Speaker's third-consecutive sputum smear test for tuberculosis has come back negative, confirming results from his previous tests, officials at National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, Colo., said Tuesday.

A person who tests positive is considered infectious, while three consecutive negative sputum smears may be considered non-infectious in most settings. Despite Speaker's third negative test, hospital officials said they haven't determined when the 31-year-old Atlanta lawyer will be allowed to leave his isolation room for exercise and fresh air.

In related news, a U.S. Senate committee wants to know why the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention didn't use one of its emergency jets to bring Speaker home from Europe after it was discovered that he had dangerous drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Instead, Speaker took a public flight from Rome to North America, triggering a trans-Atlantic health scare, ABC News reported. Speaker said he was not told that a private CDC plane was an option.

The Senate committee will hold hearings into the matter on Wednesday.

The CDC has three private jets available for emergencies. The jets, which cost taxpayers $7 million a year, were used nine times in the last year. Until Congress started asking questions, one of the jets was used regularly for political travel by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, ABC News reported.

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Nigeria Sues Pfizer Over Drug Trials

The government of Nigeria is suing Pfizer, charging that the world's largest pharmaceutical company conducted improper trials of the anti-meningitis drug Trovan in children.

The Nigerian government wants $7 billion in damages for the families of children who allegedly died or suffered serious side effects after being given the experimental antibiotic, BBC News reported. A few years ago, the Nigerian state of Kano filed a separate lawsuit against Pfizer seeking $2.7 billion in damages. That suit is still working its way through the legal system.