Many tuberculosis experts say that such high-tech fixes will certainly alienate patients and are unnecessary in the first place.

The steps were discussed in interviews and at a two-day meeting of tuberculosis experts at the Federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

We vehemently disagree with the "tuberculosis experts" who say "high-tech fixes" like face masks and respirators are "unnecessary."

The likelihood that Mr. Speaker might have infected other passengers is low, tuberculosis experts say, because the disease is not as contagious as illnesses like influenza.

Without Parallel City medical authorities and tuberculosis experts said the testing was the most extensive that they could recall being required by an employer.

"We have turned a disease that was completely preventable and curable into one that is neither," says Dr. Lee B. Reichman, a leading tuberculosis expert.

"The true burden is unknown," said Dr. Mohamed Abdel Aziz, the organization's tuberculosis expert and leader of the study.

The center in Lima has cured more than 80 percent of patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis - something many tuberculosis experts and even the World Health Organization had thought impossible.

"There is no great answer," said Dr. Michael D. Iseman, a tuberculosis expert at the National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine in Denver.

"It's a dynamite study," said Dr. Lee Reichman, a leading tuberculosis expert at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.