According to attorney Andrew Speaker, he, his doctors and the CDC all knew he had TB that was resistant to some drugs before he flew to Europe for his wedding and honeymoon last month. His father, Robert Cooksey, is a specialist in the disease at Atlanta's Center for Disease Control. Cooksey said he provided "fatherly advice" to Speaker about the illness.

Speaker said he was advised by Fulton County health authorities that he was not contagious or a danger to anyone. Officials told him they would prefer he didn't fly, but no one ordered him not to, he said. He was in Europe when he learned tests indicted the strain XDR, a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis. The CDC acknowledge that Cooksey had helped to find Speaker and diagnose his condition.

When told of his condition, Speaker flew back to the United States for treatment. He was afraid he couldn't survive otherwise. He flew into Canada to avoid detection and crossed into the U. S. in northeastern New York. A day after he was allowed to pass through the border he was quarinteened

Speaker is being treated at Denver's National Jewish Hospital.