TB on planes!

Let us all take a deep breath. No one is dead — yet.

Word that Andrew Speaker, a 31-year-old personal injury lawyer from Atlanta, carried a dangerous and drug-resistant form of Tuberculosis (TB) on Air France Flight 385 from Atlanta to Paris on May 12 is infecting the mainstream media and scaring air travelers worldwide.

It’s become something of a circus, actually. Air France issued a non-statement saying that it was “committed to the safety and security of our passengers and crew” (is this new? I hope not.) and that it is “cooperating fully with all authorities” (again, I hope Air France hasn’t just recently started following the law. Then again, it is an airline).

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives, perhaps sensing a good opportunity to ride the TB passenger’s coattails, sent out a press release calling for “new regulations empowering the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to track airline seating arrangements.”

Huh?

Here’s what we know about extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, or XDR TB. Earlier this year, the CDC concluded that this type of TB had “a wide geographic distribution” and that patients with it suffered “worse outcomes” than with traditional TB.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that the odds of contracting XDR TB in the States are “very low” according to the agency. The CDC’s XDR TB fact sheet also says it’s “relatively rare.”

The World Health Organization also has a fact sheet which basically seconds the CDCs findings.

That’s no comfort to the passengers on Air France 385. In fact, a closer reading of the CDC fact sheet reveals how easy it is to become infected with TB. “These germs can float in the air for several hours, depending on the environment,” it warns. “Persons who breathe in the air containing these TB germs can become infected.”

Symptoms of TB disease include feelings of sickness or weakness, weight loss, fever, and night sweats, according to the CDC. The symptoms of TB disease of the lungs may also include coughing, chest pain, and coughing up blood.

Most sobering, perhaps, is this statistic — a cure is possible for only 30 percent of affected people. And yes, sometimes people die of XDR TB.

So here are the questions of the hour:

1) Which country will offer Speaker safe harbor when he gets out of quarantine? (Answer: probably none.)

2) What’s my risk of getting infected with XDR TB? (Answer: Very slim — unless you sat next to this guy on May 12, in which case you should really get yourself looked at.)

3) What are the airlines going to do about it? (Answer: Probably the same thing they always do — nothing.)

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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