NY - Plane quarantined at JFK amid reports of sick passengers, 5 Sept, 2018

[TennesseeGal]

Emirates flight: cause of JFK passenger illness may be influenza - CNN

I may have missed it earlier - I have to work sometimes - so if I missed it I apologize. I tend to speed read a bit when trying to keep up with multiple threads.

But this is the first time I have noticed mention that of the 10 hospitalized, 7 are crew members and only 3 are passengers: "She said doctors will know more when they get the results of respiratory tests done on the three passengers and seven crew members late Wednesday." Perhaps the 7 were already sick and shouldn't have been working the flight?

Also says they reported symptoms that included coughing, fever or vomiting.

"A CDC official familiar with the situation earlier told CNN that authorities looking into the cause of the illnesses were considering respiratory illnesses like influenza -- and out of an abundance of caution, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, a viral respiratory disease first identified in 2012."

 

[Amonet]

How fast would a test for flu come back if it was rushed through CDC labs? If a flu test came back positive, then that would suggest that it's not MERS.

 

[dotr]

How fast would a test for flu come back if it was rushed through CDC labs? If a flu test came back positive, then that would suggest that it's not MERS.

15 minutes?
Rapid Diagnostic Testing for Influenza: Information for Clinical Laboratory Directors | Seasonal Influenza (Flu) | CDC
"The availability and use of rapid influenza diagnostic tests (RIDTs) to detect influenza viral antigens in respiratory tract specimens by laboratories and clinics have increased in recent years.

• Rapid influenza diagnostic tests (RIDTs) are screening tests for influenza virus infection.
• They can provide results within approximately 15 minutes."

 

[Betty P]

Mystery Illness on Jet to JFK Is the Flu: Mayor's Office

All 10 patients hospitalized after the nightmare flight will be kept in the hospital as a precaution, New York City Mayor press secretary Eric Phillips said on Twitter.

"Test results on the 10 hospitalized patients find influenza. Some tests came back inconclusive on other viruses, which is common. They’ll be re-administered this morning," he said.

Hmmm. It still sounds odd, having so many people, including crew, coming down with influenza at the same time on the same flight. Not being CT, but it sounds like whatever flu virus they were exposed to, they all contracted it at the same time and showed concurrent onset of symptoms. Either that or it's a rapidly spreading virus that is highly communicable, has severe symptoms and a very short incubation period. It's not like passengers and crew members are all living, eating, etc. in the same place before boarding the plane. Just odd.

I'd like to know how sick the passengers and crew are, how quickly they recover, how many other passengers on the plane end up coming down with the virus and how quickly they show symptoms.

 

[CARIIS]

I don't do much flying because...heights = nope! But am I correct that planes recycle the same air over and over? They can't pull fresh air in from outside, which if I'm right, would make it easier to spread germs.

wow what a story

that is old days! This is A380 ($375 million per aircraft not a typo!)

These beauties take bleed air (not jet exhaust !) cool it and pump it in to cabin I don't know the cabin refresh numbers on this model . And there are vents used to pressurization that allow air out.

long flight kinda seems like it would food related - but it seems that would be pretty easy to determine no? Ask what they consumed .

 

[PrairieWind]

Mayor's office says the flu is confirmed. Thats weird. What is the incubation period for flu? May depend on the specific strain, which isn't provided here.

Mystery Illness on Jet to JFK Is the Flu: Mayor's Office

 

[dotr]

Mayor's office says the flu is confirmed. Thats weird. What is the incubation period for flu? May depend on the specific strain, which isn't provided here.

Mystery Illness on Jet to JFK Is the Flu: Mayor's Office

5 Things You Need to Know About the Flu Incubation Period
rbbm.
Influenza Incubation Period
The average incubation period for the flu is 2 days, but it can last anywhere from 1 to 4 days in healthy adults. Peak viral excretion, or the time when infected individuals are most contagious, is in the first 24 to 48 hours of symptoms. Once an infected person becomes symptomatic, those who also become infected with the flu will develop symptoms within 2 to 4 days. A March 2011 study in "The Journal of Theoretical Biology" found that average flu incubation periods in a small aircraft and bus were 1.48 and 2.05 days, respectively, suggesting that incubation periods may be shortened when individuals are confined to close quarters.

 

[Amonet]

Mystery Illness on Jet to JFK Is the Flu: Mayor's Office



Hmmm. It still sounds odd, having so many people, including crew, coming down with influenza at the same time on the same flight. Not being CT, but it sounds like whatever flu virus they were exposed to, they all contracted it at the same time and showed concurrent onset of symptoms. Either that or it's a rapidly spreading virus that is highly communicable, has severe symptoms and a very short incubation period. It's not like passengers and crew members are all living, eating, etc. in the same place before boarding the plane. Just odd.

I'd like to know how sick the passengers and crew are, how quickly they recover, how many other passengers on the plane end up coming down with the virus and how quickly they show symptoms.

The crew members might have all been infected at the same time, in a meeting or in the staff cafeteria, or even if they'd gone out for a group meal after work one day in the previous 48/72 hours. On such a long flight they could easily start off all feeling okay, one or two of them might have just started to feel a few symptoms and taken something thinking they had a cold, and then the rest could come down with it very suddenly, one after the other, during the flight.

 

[PrairieWind]

The important thing is that Vanilla Ice appears to be fine. We can't afford to lose a national treasure like him!

 

[Betty P]

Now they've quarantined passengers from 2 American Airlines flights in Philly.

A dozen passengers on two American Airlines planes are quarantined in Philadelphia after falling ill | Daily Mail Online

Flight 755 originated in Paris and landed in Philadelphia in the afternoon. Flight 717 originated in Munich, Germany and landed in Philadelphia around the same time.NBC Philadelphia reports that numerous travelers were returning from pilgrimages in Mecca, Saudi Arabia before boarding in Paris and Munich.

ETA: Another link from CBS news

CDC Investigating After Multiple Passengers Fall Ill On Separate International Flights Coming Into Philadelphia International Airport

 

[TennesseeGal]

Sick plane syndrome: More flights from Middle East arrive with ill passengers

And the NBC version

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Sick plane syndrome: More flights from Middle East arrive with ill passengers

For me the Hajj is as likely an incubator of a global flu pandemic as any I can imagine.

2million+ people from around the globe crushed into a small area for days and then scattering back around the globe again could be a nightmare scenario. We're lucky that new strains of flu have not emerged in the Middle East and that for the next 20 years or so the Hajj dates do not fall within the flu season in the northern hemisphere.

 

[Hatfield]

OMG
This is serious folks. Coughing nonstop and uncontrollably. That is bad. Really bad. Im not yet convinced this is flu because incubation period and then time to actually get symptoms like that I would think would be more than a 10-12 hour flight.

It almost sounds like a gas attack. Like something was mixed with the O2 tanks that may be on board planes. Not sure if planes mix a little O2 in with the air to circulate into the cabin. Someone may have sabataged some O2 tanks.

All I know is I hate flying anymore and one reason is something like this could happen. When I was younger and had to fly I would love to reach up to those nozzles and open them and point them down on me to get a small breeze. Nowadays if I have to fly I always shut off all the nozzles that I have control of and point them away from me. I may start to carry my own gas mask if stuff like this is starting to happen. And yes I already have a good brand new gas mask. I bought it years ago when living near a nuclear power plant. LOL

Its the kind with the charcoal canister that hangs off the side. I wonder if I would be able to pass through security checkpoints wearing my gas mask. LOL

Seriously though. I hope everyone recovers. And for the typhoid marys or any other people who may be responsible I hope they stop and consider other humans before they cause this again.

A reporter for ABC News tweeted: "The pilot is reporting 2 male passengers with extremely high fevers and approximately 100 passengers 'coughing non-stop.'"

Plane quarantined in New York after about 100 passengers report feeling sick, CDC says

 

[HMSHood]

Really serious. I do not know why they let obviously ill people on board. That asking for a disaster.

It reminds me Patrick Sawyer, who was severely ill with Ebola. He went on board Asky Airline to Lagos despite his illness.

Video shows Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, was "terribly ill", possibly knew he had Ebola before traveling to Nigeria - Premium Times Nigeria

Unfortunately, Ebola infected 20 people in Nigeria and 8 died. It could of been much worse.