A rash thought be monkey pox that turned out to be bed bug bites has caused a two-hour quarantine of a Delta plane in Chicago Thursday may have been the work of bed bugs, not the monkey pox virus health officials feared.
The itchy passenger was Lise Sievers of Red Wing, Minn., a 50-year-old woman returning home from Uganda, where she was working to adopt two children. Sievers noticed the rash and told her mother, who got worried and called health officials in Indiana.
“It’s just a case of bed bugs,” Sievers told ABC News affiliate WLS after exiting the plane. “I think I’m going to empty a jar of bed bugs on my mom’s bed tonight.”
Other passengers aboard Flight 3163 feared the worst as officers wearing Hazmat suits studied the rash, sending photos to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta.
Imagine pass angers dismay of thinking they were exposed to monkey pox….when the person on the plane had bed bug bites.
Even though the passengers on the plane weren’t exposed to this deadly virus, they may still have been exposed to bed bugs on their persons and luggage.
“They didn’t tell us very much at all,” one passenger told WLS, describing a scene that could have come from the movie “Contagion.” “When they come on in masks and gloves, you think the worst.”
Monkey pox is a rare and sometimes fatal disease similar to smallpox that occurs mostly in central and western Africa. It’s contracted through contact with infected animals or their bodily fluids, and can spread among humans through fluids and contaminated clothes or bedding, according to the CDC.
The monkey pox rash consists of raised, fluid-filled bumps, and is usually accompanied by fever, headache and lymph node swelling. Bed bug bites, on the other hand, cause a swollen and red area that may or may not be itchy, without the other symptoms.
Sievers, who was sitting near the bathroom on the plane, recalled the worried looks from other passengers when it became clear she was the cause of the quarantine.
“You could see them thinking, ‘Is it safe to use the bathroom?’” she told WLS.
After studying the rash and searching for other signs of infectious disease, health officials released Sievers and her fellow passengers.
“Medical staff at CDC and the Chicago Department of Public Health reviewed the case and, based on the patient’s symptoms and photographs of the rash, it does not appear that the signs and symptoms are consistent with a monkey pox infection,” the CDC said in a statement. “The ill passenger was advised to seek medical care and the rest of the passengers were released from the plane.”
Dr. Donald Henderson, a professor of medicine and public health at the University of Pittsburgh and former director of the Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness, said the quarantine was an unusual and unhelpful move.
“In the exceptional circumstance in which a passenger with a serious transmissible disease is discovered on a plane, the best course of action would be to explain to the passengers what the disease might be and to give them instructions to contact their physicians and to call a designated CDC emergency number should they develop any one of a number of symptoms,” he said. “The worst thing that can be done is to spread alarm and concern, delay air travel, and publicly exercise an array of unnecessary emergency measures.”
Dr. Martin Cetron, director of quarantine for the CDC, said health officials board planes to investigate possible infectious diseases upward of 40 times a month. The flights are usually delayed only a few minutes, and passengers might not even be aware of it. But two or three times a year there is a significant delay, like the one at Chicago Midway, he said.
After two agonizing hours on the tarmac, passengers were happy to learn that the rash was not the result of something more serious.
“Of course, you’re relieved when they say it is just a case of bug bites,” passenger Kayla Sanders told WLS.
Yes we understand the relief of a very bad situation turning into a case of the bed bugs but, people still will have to have their luggage and bodies inspected for bed bugs and possibly some bed bug treatments may be needed.
Should the airline be responsible for any associated bed bug problems these poor people face because of this?
Are bed bug problems going to go away in New York?
According to ABC News, an annual study is out that depicts our nations top 50 bed bug hot spots in the US for 2012. New york City is still in the top 10 for bed bug infestations with New Haven and Hartford Connecticut making the list also.
PENN State - As bed bugs continue to be a growing problem in apartment buildings, dorm rooms, hotels, hospitals and homes across the country, a new treatment method is proving to be effective and less disruptive for students at Penn State University.
Bed bugs are a very emotional issue that can easily cause psychological problems for people. Even people that have no bed bug infestation but, have had one in the past can suffer from a kind of paranoia about bed bugs.
A new bed bug law is in the works in Iowa that would hold tenants responsible for reporting a bed bug problem in condo’s and apartments to their landlords and property managers in a timely manner or face fines .
