He Said, CDC Said

June 1, 2007 — -- The story that tuberculosis patient Andrew Speaker tells about the events leading up to his international travels is very different from the version of events laid out by public health officials.

When asked whether he should travel to Europe for his May wedding, here's what health officials said they told Speaker:

"The patient was advised not to travel … due to his own protection, as well as for the protection of others," said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Dr. Eric Benning.

But Speaker's account of his travel plans differs significantly.

The 31-year-old Speaker, who was diagnosed with TB in January, explained his decision to travel despite his diagnosis, telling "Good Morning America's" Diane Sawyer, "I hope they understand that at every turn it was conveyed to me that my family, my wife, my daughter, no one was at risk. And that I was not contagious."

Speaker further explained he would "never" put his family or daughter at risk, and insisted he was told he was not a threat to others.

So he boarded a plane and jetted off to his European wedding.

Speaker's honeymoon was interrupted when the CDC contacted him to inform him his condition was more serious than doctors had originally thought.

"When we reached him [we] finally caught up with this individual in Rome," said Dr. Martin Cetron, the CDC's director of Global Migration and Quarantine.

Cetron said one of his quarantine officers spoke to Speaker to "share the information about the progressive culture results and to make clear that under no uncertain terms should he use aircraft."

They were then left with the question of how they would return home, and initially were offered potential assistance from the government.

"We also indicated that we were looking at and working [out] options to safely arrange his transport back to the United States. That would require some time. We indicated a couple of places where he could reach out and get assistance, including the American Embassy," Cetron continued.

But Speaker's new wife, Sarah, told ABC News the CDC failed in its effort to arrange transportation home, and even told the couple so.

"Can you just find a way to get us home?" she said they asked the CDC. "You know, we said, 'a military vessel or a maritime ship or something?' … they just said the final word from the CDC was no."