Re: Bird Flu scare on plane
The ABC is now reporting that there is no evidence the person concerned is suffering from H5N1 bird flu. Panic over.
Living in a city where we had about three cases of SARS, I can testify to the likely severe effect of a major flu pandemic on the airline industry.
One can only hope that when the virus mutates to a human to human transmissible form that it's virulence decreases.
From the ABC:
"Health authorities say there is no evidence that a passenger who arrived in Australia today with flu-like symptoms after travelling through Asia has bird flu.
Ten arrivals gates at Sydney International Airport and the Eva Air flight from Taipei were quarantined for an hour as a precaution.
New South Wales Health says the man is in isolation and under routine observation in the Prince of Wales Hospital.
Dr Jeremy McAnulty from New South Wales Health says there is no risk to other passengers on the flight.
"Other people on the plane were spoken to and there was no need to screen," he said.
"We don't believe that the person has avian influenza so we don't believe there is a risk to those other people.
"However details of people around the person have been taken and if it turns out that the person has some other infectious disease then we will be able to contact those people, as is the routine, as we do from time-to-time."