Airports Prepare to Shut Door on Bird Flu
March 13, 2006 — -- Before bird flu can become a pandemic in the United States, it will have to cross the ocean, probably through an international flight. That's why American airports are developing plans to stop the deadly flu at the country's entry points.
Dr. Mark Gendreau of the Lahey Clinic studies diseases on planes, and he says only passengers within a few rows of someone infected with bird flu will be at risk.
"Danger is present, particularly if you are sitting within several rows of that [infected] person," Gendreau said. "If you are seated more than four or five seats from the person coughing, you really don't have a lot to fear."
During the SARS outbreak, 22 passengers aboard an Air China flight came down with SARS. They were seven rows in front of the original patient and a few rows behind. Despite the low risk of infection, airports are not taking any risks.
The Honolulu International airport will quarantine those exposed to the virus for a week.
"We are the Western door to America, and we are the hub or entry point for many people, passengers coming out of Asia," said Dr. Chiyome Fukinow, director of the Hawaii Department of Health.
Honolulu International has designated an isolation gate where a plane carrying an obviously ill passenger will be parked. Once there, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will send a doctor onboard to ask a list of questions.
The sick person will be taken directly to the emergency room for a test specifically for bird flu. In the meantime, the rest of the plane's passengers will be quarantined for up to a week to see whether they develop symptoms.
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