Study: Rules on flying with TB are too strict

ATLANTA (AP) — Provocative new research suggests international rules that bar potentially infectious tuberculosis patients from flying are too stringent and airline passengers are really at little risk from catching TB from a fellow traveler.

Global and U.S. health authorities also go too far in advising testing of passengers and crew on long flights when an infected flier is discovered, said the researcher, Dr. Ibrahim Abubakar, in a paper published in a British medical journal.

The paper is controversial. U.S. health officials disagree, and a prominent TB expert says the findings are based on paltry data and current guidelines are appropriate.

Abubakar headed a European scientific panel that looked at tuberculosis and air travel. His paper, released Sunday, analyzes 13 earlier studies of 4,300 airline passengers from six countries. He concluded that only two studies offered convincing evidence of an infected passenger spreading the disease to others.

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