May 30, 2007 - Passengers and crew on two recent transatlantic flights may have been exposed to a rare and unusually drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis by an unidentified man who is now under federal quarantine. Officials at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) say it’s been more than 40 years since a similar isolation order was given.
In an effort to contain the spread of this often-lethal form of the disease known as XDR TB, health authorities are asking passengers who traveled on either flight (Air France Flight 385 from Atlanta to Paris on May 13 and Czech Air Flight 0104 from Prague to Montreal on May 24). to come forward for testing. Tuberculosis is an airborne bacterial infection that usually affects the lungs and is usually spread by people in close quarters. While rates of the disease are fairly low in the United States (fewer than 14,000 cases were reported last year), it is a leading health problem worldwide—particularly for those with compromised immune systems. There were 1.6 million TB deaths in 2005 according to the World Health Organization.
OK...now that you've read this article...I just want you to know it scares the bejebers out of me.
I flew to NYC in early March, flew back to Dallas and then one day later turned around and flew to Baltimore/Washington D.C. By the time I got back to Dallas I was very very ill. I picked up some sort of weird strain of bacterial infection and nothing (antibiotics and assorted drugs) seemed to help.
I actually was in bed ill for close to four weeks and felt like an episode of Dr. House since my docs could not exactly figure out what type of virus I had caught.
It is an unknown event for me to surrender to any type of sickness. I have been known to sit at my PC with 100+ fever because I did not want to be away from HB.com and let any customers or visitors down.
But this past infection was so bad it attacked my kidneys and related organs to the point that I was in horrendous pain and didn't care what happened to anyone or anything. For me...that was really ill.
When I read about things like this TB guy it freaks me totally out.
Any reactions on this piece? What do you do to prevent catching a bug like this on a flight?
Edited by Karen Shelton - May 30 2007 at 10:16pm
That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger or drives you totally insane. :-)
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