The nation's runaway tuberculosis (TB) patient was tracked down by Chinese authorities last night in a small village in China's Jiangsu Province, an official at Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
The 55-year-old Chiayi man is suffering from multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and was previously informed by local health officers that he should not travel, CDC Deputy Director Chou Chih-hao (周志浩) said.
The man's wife is also infected with tuberculosis, but she has not been diagnosed with MDR-TB.
"The couple told a quarantine officer that they were unaware that the health authorities were looking for them," Chou told reporters yesterday. "However, the couple's son admitted that he relayed that information when he talked to them on the 25th [Wednesday]."
The couple told a quarantine officer sent from Taiwan to deal with the case they travelled to China in order to visit their future in-laws as their son is about to be married, Chou said.
The CDC was not aware that an MDR-TB patient had broken its flight ban until three days after the couple left Kaohsiung for Nanjing via Hong Kong last Saturday.
The couple toured Yanchou and Suzhou among other localities before ending up in Funing village to see their future in-laws.
They were found in a small hotel there.
"The cost is not our priority right now," Chou said when asked by reporters how much public money would be needed to pay for the quarantine officer, the medical costs the couple incur in China and other expenses associated with the case.
"Eventually, we might consider getting some compensation directly from the couple," Chou said.
The man would also face a fine between NT$10,000 and NT$150,000 if he was found guilty of knowingly defying the travel ban. His relatives could be fined from NT$60,000 to NT$150,000 if they are found guilty of withholding the couple's whereabouts or otherwise obstructing the investigation, Chou said.
An air travel ban was put in place last month for those who are in the "open" or infectious phase of MDR-TB or extreme drug resistant TB. Those in the open phase of ordinary strains of TB are only banned from flights longer than eight hours in duration.
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