Passenger Who Died of TB May Have Exposed Others on Flight

Federal investigators have begun warning several hundred passengers who took United Airlines flights from Baltimore to Chicago and from Chicago to Honolulu May 11 that they may have been exposed to tuberculosis by a woman who died of TB after her arrival in Hawaii.

Several infectious disease specialists said Thursday the risk that she infected other passengers on the two flights is small because the disease is usually spread among people who have spent prolonged periods of time in close proximity--such as family members.

Nonetheless, they said the risk may have been heightened by the confined quarters of an airline cabin and the tendency of modern air-handling systems to circulate stale air along with fresh air from the outside.

The woman, a native of Korea who lived in Japan for the last 12 years, spent about a month visiting friends in Maryland’s Howard County before boarding United Airlines Flight 493 in Baltimore. In Chicago she changed planes to United Flight 47, then landed in Hawaii so sick she was hospitalized immediately.

Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease spread in airborne droplets by coughing, sneezing and--in some cases--talking. The disease, which usually attacks the lungs, causes chest pain and shortness of breath.