Swine Flu: Woman's 'Flu-Like Symptoms' Divert Plane To Boston

BOSTON — A flight from Germany has been diverted to Boston because a passenger complained of flu-like symptoms.

Airport spokesman Phil Orlandella says United Airlines Flight 903 landed in Boston early Friday afternoon after a 53-year-old female passenger reported her symptoms.

He says the woman was checked at Massachusetts General Hospital and the flight continued to Washington Dulles International Airport.

United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson says the pilot landed in Boston on the advice of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It isn't yet clear what caused the woman's symptoms or whether she might be suffering from swine flu.

Johnson says the flight had 245 passengers and 14 crew members.

(This version CORRECTS that the plane had 14 crew members, not six.)

Comments

[TazoWolf]

Decent Q&A about Swine flu here, backing up words with scientific explanations people can understand to dispel some fears and explain where the real concerns lie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma7IeWRH7y0

[VOICEOFKNOWING]

You all should panick more...

[nycvagabond]

so i think i'm gonna take a pogo stick to california to pick up my friend... you know, i don't want to fly, drive, boat, train or anything else.. only pogo.. that is the ONLY safe way to travel...

so if you don't have a pogo stick, get one!

[BannedInBoston]

If a va mpire chooses a victim with A I DS, does the va mpire get A I DS? (Just asking.)

[dems08]

that's common knowledge.­..

[DonKrieger]

Stop the Madness:

Two days ago, Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, declared a state of emergency. As of today, he has order massive school closings to last more than a week.
http://governor.state.tx.us/news/press-release/12300/

These measure and purely a play for federal money and savings of state money at the expense of school children and public school employees. And it's all happening because our President and his Administration are allowing it. Their handling of this flu "crisis" is fear mongering at its worst. The only plus to it is that it encourages people to do the common sense thing, i.e. stay home when you're sick.

But look at the numbers. Texas has had 16 confirmed flu cases in 2 weeks and NO AMERICAN DEATHS. I bet they've had 100 times that many flu cases of other types and many deaths. The kinds of actions they are taking are far greater even than those taken during the great polio outbreaks of the early 1950's. Then schools were closed only when a kid got sick in the school.

And the assertion that there is no natural immunity because the virus is new is preposterous. If that were the case, the numbers would have exploded in a couple of days.

Don

Don Krieger, Ph.D., D.ABNM
Pittsburgh, PA
http://publicservice.evendon.com
BLOG: http://DonKrieger.blogspot.com

[thinkagain2]

On the other hand, should it become a more serious threat, everyone would be all over the gov't for not taking action early enough.

I do think that the media has, once more, made much more of this than is necessary and has not provided the whole picture. Like how many regular old flu cases are also running around right now.

[MarionKIN]

I think what concerns them is the cluster of fatalities seen in Mexico City from otherwise healthy adults in the 20-40 age range. It's irresponsible to cause panic ... but it's equally irresponsible casually dismiss this as nothing to be concerned about. The fact is, they don't actually know the mortality rate yet. They don't know how many people actually have the virus vs. how many have been seriously sickened. They don't know why the cases in Mexico are more severe. Also, don't delude yourself. On Tuesday, WHO, CDC and others revised their procedures. They're no longer testing new cases in areas which have already seen confirmed cases, due to overload. Instead, they are using diagnosis of "presumed" S-OIV 2009 A/H1N1. Just because there are less confirmed cases does NOT mean the contagion's contained.

[tploomis]

Thank goodness I'm over 40.

[LemonMeringue]

Every year 36,000 Americans die from the flu and it does not even make the news.

This is overblown so that it will fill the headlines and push the bailouts and torture crimes to page 27.

[karinova]

Whoa, now! Put down the tinfoil hat.

Other nations, that are half a world away, are also losing their po0p over this-- in some cases, worse than here. And I'm pretty sure they don't care about whether bailouts and tortvre are on our front pages.

This is overblown because the media FAILS, epically.

[LemonMeringue]

And who owns the media?

[LemonMeringue]

P.S. Look up the Council on Foreign Relations. Google it.

[CJWebber]

Tinfoil hat? There's a very good chance he's right.

Just because other nations are 'losing their po0p over this' doesn't mean they're right.

[TheBaffler]

Everybody panic! Stay home, cover your windows and doors with plastic!

[BannedInBoston]

Everybody run!
The Homecoming Queen's got the flu!

[woodendesigner]

IT'S THE FLU. Everyone is acting like this is a world destroying virus and it's not. Most people will get over their sickness and go on living their life. There have been many other un-named flu's that caused the deaths of many more than this one.
Today I overheard a dad telling his son to carry a handkerchief so he would not touch his face after touching any surface. The flu might not get the kid but every bully in the school will. This is a massive overreaction I think.

[karinova]

Well... I basically agree with you. But there is reason for SOME concern.

This virus is new, so there's that. It's striking young, healthy people (as opposed to the young, old, and immune-com­promised)-­- which is bad, because young, healthy people tend to move around a lot more than those other groups. Note also that previous serious pandemics have come in waves, where the first wave of the virus is mild, but the second or third is severe, with a high mortality rate. (Those last two factors were what happened with the Spanish Flu. Obviously, that's a worst-case­-scenario, but it's not a possibility we should ignore.)

In short, it's certainly worth having the appropriate people watch this, closely.

But I don't think we the laity need these hysterical, inaccurate, quarter-hourly updates. The truth is, just about everything that SHOULD be done, IS being done (and then some; sigh). They could mention THAT, instead of telling us there are 8-- 42?-- no, 17!-- no, eleventy billion!!!-- cases of swine flu. For perspective, I wish just ONE news outlet would tell us how many cases of plain old regular flu we have in the US right now. You know, the one that kil|s tens of thousands each year?

[VOICEOFKNOWING]

Yeah, 19 out of 6.5 billion...

[JuliusR]

For many years the conventional wisdom was a black man would be elected president when 'pigs fly'.
Well, in a hundred days in office ,'swine flu'.

[Juniorino]

Hey, I just got that! Funny.

[BannedInBoston]

But not original.

[pipetoe]

We are driving from Houston to Boston to pick our son up from college, just to keep him off a plane....
The thing that worries me about this is if this is not severe; will be people take the appropriate attitude when it is severe....­You know the old tale of "crying wolf"

[punk]

It's a wee bit PARANOID to drive from Houston to Boston because of the flu.

[pipetoe]

I don't know how bad it is....Dear sweet Biden would be driving to pick up his....hav­e you heard the news today.

[barriosbabe]

Why go to Boston?

Crazy.

[BannedInBoston]

Because it's the liberal capital of the world.

[AlexFTW]

Nonsense.

[theratt]

there were several confirmed cases at Harvard today. They shut down the dental school.

[BannedInBoston]

Thanks for the info. I work with a Harvard student. I'll keep my distance.

[JZ735]

There are so many crazy hypochondriacs in the world...a friend of mine went to his doctor for a check up and asked if he should worry about swine flu...doct­or said WHAT FOR? She explained that as is always the case, the media is being hysterical and the government, not wanting to err on the side of negligence, is being super cautious, which is fueling more fear...she says it's a mountain out of a molehill, that what info she has gotten indicates that development of the bug is now in a holding pattern, and to be overdrastic about protection is ridiculous­...especia­lly using a face mask, which she said is plain silly...ju­st wash your hands thoroughly and don't spend time in huge crowds over next few weeks...co­mmon sense, of course...s­omething sorry lacking rightly now.

[wordvarc]

Hopefully we overestimated the power of this virus...
the 60% infection rate calculations were most alarming.

[WonderingNThinking]

I found swine flu commercials from 1976 on youtube. Looks like they're recycling pandemics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iJLpe1tZl8

[AlexFTW]

Wow, I don't even know what to make of that.