US Airways passengers in 'TB scare' on flight landing in Phoenix
Passengers on a US Airways flight from Austin to Phoenix reportedly got something of a health scare when a man suspected of having TB was removed from the plane upon landing.
A woman from Phoenix said her husband and 10-year-old daughter were returning from Austin, Texas, on US Airways Express Flight 2846 when the plane stopped short of the gates at the terminal.
The woman said paramedics boarded the plane and removed a man who allegedly had tuberculosis.
She said the passengers were advised to get TB shots after being exposed to the illness.
According to ABC15, Bill McGlahsen, spokesman for US Airways, said the flight had been carrying a passenger with a "medical issue" but would not confirm a specific disease.
McGlahsen added the passenger was cleared to board the plane in Austin, but while the flight was mid-air the passenger's status was changed to "no-fly."
The Daily Mail reports that one passenger, Dean Davidson, said while they waited for around 20 minutes in an isolated area of the tarmac, a flight attendant asked a man to put on a medical mask before he was escorted off the plane by firefighters.
He said that a firefighter then told the 70 passengers on board that everyone on the flight had been exposed to TB and advised them to seek medical attention and then get tested in three months.
According to the azcentral.com, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spokeswoman Karen Hunter said on Sunday that "no infectious disease has been confirmed in the passenger. And even if a passenger had infectious TB, the duration of the flight was so short that there would likely be no risk of exposure to other passengers."
TB is caused by a bacteria that usually attacks the lungs, and is spread through the air from one person to another.
Symptoms can include a bad cough, chest pain, coughing up blood, fever, and weight loss.
The disease can be fatal if not treated properly.
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