For some crazy reason I decided to start reading Hot Zone today. The first chapter is a scary recollection of a fellow getting very sick (from the Marburg virus) on an airplane.
The story reminded me of an episode that was reported last spring. A very sick passenger showed up in London on a flight from South Africa with horrible symptoms. I can’t remember if it was in April or May, but it was pretty scary at the time.
Does anyone know what the story/outcome was?
I never saw any follow up story reporting what casued the symptoms.
It sounded like they let all the passengers scatter and go on their merry way. Not good in my opinion when you don’t know what it was or if it was capable of going H2H.
The last I heard of the Virgin Airline passenger who died was they were considering poisons. People were hot on the trail of that one. Even checking out the hospital which was quite forthcoming. Noone posted autopsy results, but they might have been private once a virus dangerous to the public was ruled out.
diana
As a recently retired airline captain, flying a bazillion miles around the globe in my career, I can state from first hand knowledge that folks get sick in flight. It’s a fact. Either their illness when they board the aircraft is exacerbated during flight (due to the uncomfortable and confined quarters, poor air circulation, etc.), or they “catch” something from another passenger, or their last meal disagrees with them.
Folks have died on my flights backinforth between the U.S. and Europe. Uh, not as a result of my flying skills by the way, but because they were on the verge of death when they boarded the aircraft due to their illness. They may not have known it, and we certainly did not know it.
Newsflash: I’m glad I’m out of the business. When this thing hits, it will be devastating to the airline industry. No reasonable person is going to want to be confined in an aluminum tube for an extended period of time (8–10–15 hours), and constantly be looking over his/her shoulder at the guy/gal seated next to, ahead, or behind him/her in fear that one of their coughs might contain the burst that will infect him/her with H5N1.
I well know that people die mid flight. Sometimes, in spite of a doctors warning, they insist on flying but sign a waiver to clear the Airlines. People are stubborn and will do whatever they want. But then I’ve known doctors who knowing full well what they risk ,take a chance on one roll of the dice and don’t make it. That particular womans illness was documented by passengers, the press and was followed with intense scrutiny. The suspected virus’s tested for and results found negative.