AirTran Meningitis Scare...

[IggyLans]

From the News.

Teen With Meningitis on AirTran Flights
By Associated Press
3 hours ago

WICHITA, Kan. - A teenager who fell seriously ill on an AirTran Airways flight was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis, and the airline was contacting passengers who sat near her, a spokesman said.

The girl, whose identity wasn't released, was in critical condition Monday at Wesley Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The teen had traveled Saturday from Orlando, Fla., to Atlanta on Flight 862 and then to Wichita on Flight 687, AirTran spokesman Dave Hirschman said. The crew called for an ambulance to meet the plane at the gate after the girl became sick on the second flight and unresponsive, he said. The airline notified the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday.

Meningitis, a bacterial infection of the lining surrounding the brain and spinal cord, primarily affects children, killing about 10 percent of those infected. Symptoms include a stiff neck, high fever, headaches and vomiting.

It can be contracted by direct close contact with discharges from the nose or throat of an infected person, but not through casual contact or breathing the same air.

The planes the girl traveled on have been thoroughly cleaned and returned to service, and AirTran was notifying fewer than 20 people who sat in her immediate vicinity, Hirschman said. The airline is a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings Inc., based in Orlando, Fla.

 

[Belle1962]

I'm posting the same reply I did on the family board to this topic:

NOTE: "...and AirTran was notifying fewer than 20 people who sat in her immediate vicinity, Hirschman said."

And that is why you should NEVER change your seat inflight. At the gate, before you board, from home, YES--AFTER the flight takes off--NO.

I know we're all tempted to jump into that empty row or seat when we see it available after the flight has loaded but this is one reason why you shouldn't. Usually they only go looking for people sitting within x number of rows of the infected person. If they don't know that you moved to within the area they are looking at--they aren't going to call you. Unless it's a biggie story like this one and the TB case where there is media coverage, you could have been exposed to something and never know it. The airline won't provide your name to the Health Dept/CDC/etc if they don't know you were sitting in the area of concern. You would be absolutely amazed at the number of people with an infectious disease who board an aircraft each WEEK.

Thats' why I prefer to DRIVE when I can.