Another tuberculosis flight scare


Christine Sarkis
Christine Sarkis

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are trying to track down passengers who may have been exposed to a woman infected with a multi-drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis on American Airlines Flight 293 between New Delhi and Chicago on December 13.

    According to this

    Scientific American article

    , health authorities are looking for 44 passengers who sat within two rows of the woman, and also for the crew members working in the cabin.

    The woman later flew on a shorter flight between Chicago and California, but authorities aren't searching for passengers from this plane because they say, "there is only a minimal chance of infection during a short duration flight."

    If this sounds familiar, it's because this is the

    second time in a year

    a person infected with hard-to-treat TB has taken a long-haul flight and exposed other passengers to the disease.

    The CDC has more information about the risk of

    in-flight disease transmission

    .