Air passengers possibly exposed to rare form of TB are sought

[maddezmom]

Source: CNN

ATLANTA (CNN) -- Federal health authorities announced Tuesday they are looking for people who may have been exposed aboard a plane to someone infected with an extensively drug-resistant form of tuberculosis known as XDR-TB.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the case involves a U.S. citizen who traveled on two international flights. XDR-TB was recently defined as a subtype of multiple-drug resistant tuberculosis. It can be fatal.

As with all TB, the disease can be spread through the air. "In this case, the infected patient traveled on two trans-Atlantic air flights and, in doing so, may have exposed passengers and crew to XDR-TB," the agency said.



Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/05/29/tuesday/index.html

[wakeme2008]

1. That was not helpful... No dates or Airlines

Just some "international flights" :grr:

[maddezmom]

2. I can't find anything on the CDC's website

or the WHO website

[depakid]

11. That's CNN for you!

Lots of hype and scare tactics- yet rarely anything remotely informative or useful.

[Tiberius]

16. Reuters has it...

CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said authorities were trying to notify passengers who traveled aboard Air France 385 from Atlanta to Paris on May 13 and back to the United States from Prague on Czech Air Flight 0104 on May 24.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N29346700.htm

[maddezmom]

17. thanks for posting

:)

[notadmblnd]

3. well they can't be looking very hard

if they're not providing any information in the media.

[MGKrebs]

4. If they know the flights, they should know the passengers and can

contact them directly.

At least I hope that's what is happening. I flew overseas in March/April.
:scared:

[liberal N proud]

5. Is this for real? - Not flights identified - no dates

Sounds like an excellent way to boost mass hysteria

[valerief]

6. Why do they even bother? They don't say enough in the article.

ATLANTA (CNN) -- Federal health authorities announced Tuesday they are looking for people who may have been exposed aboard a plane to someone infected with an extensively drug-resistant form of tuberculosis known as XDR-TB.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the case involves a U.S. citizen who traveled on two international flights. XDR-TB was recently defined as a subtype of multiple-drug resistant tuberculosis. It can be fatal.

As with all TB, the disease can be spread through the air. "In this case, the infected patient traveled on two trans-Atlantic air flights and, in doing so, may have exposed passengers and crew to XDR-TB," the agency said.

"A federal quarantine order has been issued and CDC is currently collaborating with U.S., state and local health departments, international ministries of health, the airline industry, and WHO (World Health Organization)." (Posted 1:07 p.m.)

[Demeter]

7. So Much Reporting Is LIke That Nowadays

It used to be every article recapped everything. Then the price of newsprint rocketted.

[kestrel91316]

8. ".....A federal quarantine order has been issued......."

This part is very interesting.

When did the exposure occur? Who is being quarantined? Where - GITMO?

[kestrel91316]

9. Remember the post a few weeks back where somebody had a

bad coughing fit on a plane coming to the US, coughed up blood, and DIED? TB was on the list of possibilities for that.

Losts of folks were saying "Nothing here - move along", but MDR TB is a serious threat on airplanes, especially long flights.

[StarryNite]

20. Yeah. What ever happened with that?

:shrug:

[Turbineguy]

10. Is Condi Rice running the CDC now too?

They did not give us flight and seat numbers.

[reprobate]

12. Whoopee! I've found another reason not to fly. I mean besides TSA.

[youngdem]

13. IF the person with the XDR-TB KNOWINGLY flew with it, they should be hanged

Almost not kidding.

What kind of fucking asshole flies around with a deadly communicable disease?

I HOPE the person is punished and made to pay ALL of the expenses associated with this search and treatment and gets some jail time, perhaps to find out what its like not to know which one of those in your closed quarters is about to give you a deadly disease.

[Mojorabbit]

18. I agree

one nasty disease that is and hopefully he did not infect planeloads of people.

[Wcross]

21. He is a pig. Nobody matters but himself.

Unfortunatly that kind of attitude has become the norm in our country. I believe he needs to be confined until he is cured, he has already shown a calous disregard for other people. I don't want to catch his disease. I don't want anyone else to catch it. I want him in a safe/secure setting where he can't infect others.

[ShortnFiery]

14. Time for a little FEAR-mongering ... how 'bout some fire Scarecrow?

:eyes:

[blueworld]

15. Are all our government employees like Brownie, or just the highly paid ones?

What the blue hell is the purpose of a press release like this? If they intend to contact the airline passengers directly, they're fools. What if one of them got run over by a garbage truck in the meantime? They could have infected family members & co-workers who need to be checked, right? It would take weeks to track them all down.

Soooo, one would think that's why the CDC is giving Cop-out Newsie Network the scoop: "Have you been in contact with a person who flew internationally or works on airplanes or used the bathroom in the airport or drank at the bar with..."Bejeezuscrispus.

This is sure the best way to avoid a BLOODY PANIC, eh???? I hope this is a secret spy code, like those personal ads they run in the old Hitchcock movies otherwise, we're being protected by people who need medical help themselves. :banghead:

[CountAllVotes]

19. more about it here:

>> The infected man flew from Atlanta to Paris on May 12 aboard Air France Flight 385. He returned to North America on May 24 aboard Czech Air Flight 0104 from Prague to Montreal. The man then drove into the United States.

Cetron reached the man once he was back in the United States. At that point, he voluntarily went to a New York hospital, then was flown by the CDC to an Atlanta-area hospital. He is not facing prosecution, health officials said. Federal officials declined to release details about him.

The man is hospitalized in Atlanta in respiratory isolation, according to the World Health Organization.

He was potentially infectious at the time of the flights, so CDC officials recommended medical exams for cabin crew members on those flights, as well as passengers sitting in the same rows or within two rows.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/05/29/national/a115028D59.DTL

:dem: :kick: