Passenger, Who Had TB, Flew From Frankfurt To Detroit

ROMULUS, Mich. — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Detroit has been diagnosed with tuberculosis.

Northwest says the passenger was on Tuesday's Flight 51 to Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

CDC spokeswoman Shelly Diaz tells The Associated Press the risk is low that other passengers might contract tuberculosis. She said Sunday that health officials were seeking to contact 17 passengers seated near the sick passenger so they can be tested for tuberculosis as a "cautionary move."

WXYZ-TV says the ailing passenger is being kept in isolation at Annapolis Hospital in Dearborn.

Diaz says details about the sick passenger weren't being released.

Northwest Airlines was acquired last year by Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) _ The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight from Frankfurt to Detroit has been diagnosed with tuberculosis.

Northwest says the passenger was on Tuesday's Flight 51 to Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus.

CDC spokeswoman Shelly Diaz tells The Associated Press the risk is low that other passengers might contract tuberculosis. She said Sunday that health officials were seeking to contact 17 passengers seated near the sick passenger so they can be tested for tuberculosis as a "cautionary move."

Diaz says details about the sick passenger weren't being released. WDIV-TV reported the tuberculosis case Sunday morning.

Northwest Airlines was acquired last year by Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc.

Comments

[liberalrebuttal]

Can someone tell me why the photo accompanying this story is of a person of African decent when the flight originated from GERMANY ? I'm just curious why . Not trying to be Hyper-PC about it. Just curious why the only photo that could be found to go along with this story was of a black person with an oxygen mask as if that's who was on the flight.

[Cinderpath]

I know this might come as a shock, but there are a lot black people in Germany, they sometimes fly on international flights too, just like other citizens. So yes, I think you are being overly PC. I never even noticed to be honest who was in the photo- as I didn't think they actually did a photo shoot on the flight itself, and the photo was for illustrative purposes only.

[hellokitty1]

yeah i mean- there are not black people in germany at all after all.

[ChiProgressive]

A passenger with active TB on international flights is a lot more common than you think.

I treated a man who came here from the Philippines to visit family.
Guy was spewing myobacteria into the cabin's air for 20 hours straight.

If you see someone coughing badly, insist that at the very least the move you or better yet take the person off the flight.

A friend of mine who worked in the ER their tested positive for exposure and has to be on prophylactic antibiotics for 6 months. The hospital denied that he caught it on the job.

[AN2009]

Germans are known for being considerate!

[Stargazingchick]

You may want to know that Frankfurt is one of the major international hubs and that the person coming from Germany could have been from any nation you can imagine. So no German-bashing, please!

[ecotopian]

Let's hope for the sake of the other passengers that this person doesn't have extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. http://cdc.gov/tb/pubs/tbfactsheets/xdrtb.htm It is very rare in the US and they want to keep it that way.

[larry278]

Going to Detroit & its, well unique, airport is bad enough without being exposed to TB too.

[hellokitty1]

wow larry, thanks for the slam against detroit! have you actually been to the new nwa terminal there?? it is 100 times nicer than lga or jfk... plus detroit is actually a big airport for layovers to other cities in the us. and they could do without your negativity as well- that doesn't help make any improvements.

[majormoderate]

yes, i hope larry hasn't done too much damage to the reputation of detroits airport...

[jrsuks]

Well what do you want me to do?

[TazoWolf]

They should recommend testing of every single passenger several months out (it can take months for an exposed person to develop a positive response). While they're correct in saying that it is unlikely they will contract TB, and the people seated nearest the passenger are most at risk, aircraft air is recirculated, meaning exposure could occur with any of the passengers.

[lighthouser41]

There is no vaccine for TB. First, it is a mycobacteria, not a virus. Also, I am a health care worker and would havehad to have been vaccinated years ago if one existed. I have to sign a paper at work if I even if I refuse a flu shot every year. Healthcare workers do, however, have to have a yearly TB skin test or chest xray if they are allergic.

[julia23]

I've worked at several hospitals as a statistical analyst, and I have always had to be tested yearly for TB. Everyone gets tested, even the janitorial staff. And any foreigner who had the vaccination and tests positive has to have a chest X-ray. Its a real bother for them.

[StringOfLights]

There is a vaccine, but it's risky and has a high rate of side effects. It's rarely used, but I first heard about it in Australia. It's not available to the general public but is legal to use in aboriginal children who live in areas where TB is a problem.

[scpatl4now]

Maybe I'm wrong...but you cant be vaccinated for TB...the injection you get is a TB test, not a vaccine. Also, TB is a bacteria, not a virus

[TazoWolf]

There is a TB vaccine, known as BCG. However, it isn't even close to 100% effective, and it makes the recipients test positive to the TB test.

[julia23]

BCG, or bacille Calmette-Guérin, is a vaccine for tuberculosis (TB) disease. Many foreign-born persons have been BCG-vaccinated. BCG is used in many countries with a high prevalence of TB to prevent childhood tuberculous meningitis and miliary disease. However, BCG is not generally recommended for use in the United States because of the low risk of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the variable effectiveness of the vaccine against adult pulmonary TB, and the vaccine’s potential interference with tuberculin skin test reactivity. The BCG vaccine should be considered only for very select persons who meet specific criteria and in consultation with a TB expert.

http://www.cdc.gov/tb/pubs/tbfactsheets/BCG.htm

[Macawmom]

When will the CDC require that all babies be vaccinated against TB? Growing up in Europe, I was vaccinated, and I'm so glad. I've heard excuses that it's too expensive to vaccinate and cheaper to treat anyone who comes down with tb, but that seems silly, especially with the growing incidence of TB.

[4gloria]

I used to travel excessively when I was in consulting. One of the things that made me stop was a study that showed 1 in 17 passengers on domestic flights has ACTIVE TB.

I was on at least 4 legs/planes per week, had a family member who was immunodeficient after an organ transplant, and I was physically exhausted most of the time, rendering me defenseless to the germ-infested skies. I opted to take a job with no travel and fly only when necessary. Just wasn't worth it.

If, before take-off, you realize the person 4 inches next to you is coughing or otherwise obviously ill, you have every right to ask to be re-seated and that they ask that person if they are healthy enough to fly. It's the airline's responsibility to keep us safe but they'll do the bare minimum unless they are asked to enforce health policy in the air.

[julia23]

Are you really trying to tell us that 6% (1/17) of the population has active TB? (unless you think people with active TB travel more, but I would guess they travel less so the numbers on planes is lower than the population estimates).

[CommonSenseMom]

GET VACCINATED PEOPLE.

[StringOfLights]

Or educated, perhaps?

[ZellaBee]

A doctor once told me that many people are walking around with TB and don't even know it. Exposure is common in large cities and enclosed spaces. It also doesn't mean you will contract the disease, but if you know you were exposed then it's wise to be checked out.

[pros54]

If the flight was only on this past Tuesday and there is already a definitive diagnosis most likely the passenger is afflicted with open case of TB and it should not be down played. Everybody who was on that flight particularly those in the same cabin need to be screened and monitored for TB because they were in the same confined space with the same recirculating air for at least 10hrs.. This is worse than the "lawyer case" as his illness was not open. The risk is not low as the CDC woman is trying to make us believe.