May 29, 2007
Traveler Quarantined After TB Scare
A man afflicted with tuberculosis may have exposed fellow passengers on flights to and from the United States, and he has been quarantined by U.S. health officials in an effort to control the spread of the disease.
Reuters reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are notifying passengers from two flights -- Air France 385 from Atlanta to Paris on May 13 and Czech Air Flight 0104 from Prague to Montreal on May 24 -- about possible infections. Tuberculosis bacteria can be spread through coughing and sneezing.
The quarantine is an unusual move for the CDC; the center's director said an action like this hasn't taken place since 1963, when a smallpox patient was quarantined. After learning he had a dangerous, drug-resistant form of the disease, the man on the two flights this month notified authorities and was hospitalized voluntarily in Atlanta. He is not facing prosecution.
Infections are still very common in some parts of the world, and drug-resistant strains of the disease are spreading. Although cases in the United States are down to about 4.6 per 100,000 Americans, 1.6 million people around the world still die from it every year, according to the World Health Organization Web site.
