Smallpox allegation quarantines flight

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Authorities quarantined an arriving US Airways flight Friday at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport after a passenger said he had smallpox, an airline spokesman said.
Health officials quarantined the Airbus A319 carrying 112 passengers and four crew members coming in from New Orleans, US Airways spokesman Morgan Durrant said.
Durrant said he could not confirm a TV report that the passenger was intoxicated.
Scott White, a spokesman at Carolinas Medical Center, where the passenger was taken for tests, said the man does not have the disease, which was eradicated in 1980.
"There's no evidence of smallpox," said Rick Christenbury, spokesman for Mecklenburg County Health Department.
Airport spokeswoman Haley Gentry said there was a "medical situation" in progress but referred questions to the health department.
Police confirmed the plane had been quarantined but did not release more information.
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