DENVER -- A Georgia man under quarantine at National Jewish Medical and Research Center, with a rare and dangerous form of tuberculosis, received his first doses of medication Friday.

Andrew Speaker has been diagnosed with XDR TB, an extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. Doctors at National Jewish said they are optimistic they can cure him.

"The patient is doing very well today," said attending physician, Dr. Gwen Huitt. "We were able to get him on an exercise bike... he's preparing for the road he has ahead of him."

Doctors said Speaker will be confined to his room for about eight weeks.

They administered on Friday his first drugs, two separate antibiotics.

"We will add additional medications over the next week or so," Huitt said, "so that we don't have to assault his body with these potentially toxic medications all at once."

X-rays show that Speaker's TB is localized in one spot of his lung, in an irregularly shaped area about the size of a tennis ball.

Doctors said it's too early to know if they'll have to perform surgery in addition to prescribing medication.

They said once Speaker gets out of the hospital, he will likely have to take medication for an additional two years.

Speaker's stay at National Jewish has caused alarm among some other patients.

Doctors said some have canceled appointments with their physicians. "It's a very small number," Huitt said, "but even if it's one, I'm not doing my job educating the public."

Huitt said she can assure everyone that National Jewish is safe. She said the patient from Georgia is in isolation and is not a danger to anyone.

Huitt said when she enters the patient's room, she dons a respiratory mask. She said the only time the patient left the room was for an X-ray and CAT scan and "when he did so, he had on a mask."

Huitt added that lab tests, so far, indicate that Speaker is not contagious.

She said "everyone can breathe a sigh of relief" about that, "especially those who were on transatlantic flights with him."