Two Taiwanese tuberculosis patients who defied a travel
ban and flew to eastern Chinese province have been located and are
receiving treatment, media said Saturday.
The
married couple, only identified as surnamed Lee, violated Taiwan regulations
and flew from the southern Taiwan city Kaohsiung to Hong Kong, and then on to
Nanjing a week ago.
The two, a 55-year-old man
suffering from a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis and his 57-year-old wife
who has standard tuberculosis and is infectious, were found by Jiangsu
provincial health officials in the north of the province, Xinhua News Agency
said.
Chou Chih-hao, a Taiwan health official,
said the two went to visit their future daughter-in-law.
Chou said the patients told Taiwan physicians sent to
track them that they did not have a fever and also wore face masks on the plane.
The Lees said they had not been told they should not fly.
Chou said the Lees could be fined up
to 300,000 New Taiwan dollars (US$10,000) when they return to Taiwan for
ignoring the travel ban.
Hong Kong's health department said earlier it is tracking
down passengers who sat near the infected couple and crew members, although it
said the risk of TB transmission is low because the flight time was only three
hours, shorter than the eight-hour threshold set by the World Health
Organization.
The latest case echoes a similar one
in the US earlier this year, when Atlanta attorney Andrew Speaker caused an
international health scare after he flew to Europe after he had been told he had
a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis.
Health officials are wary of air
travel by patients with infectious diseases after the experience of severe acute
respiratory syndrome.