Add this odd incident to the litany of problems plaguing American Airlines lately: A plane coming in from Miami was held for two hours on the ground at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport last night after a passenger piped up to say she maybe kinda could be at risk for having typhoid fever.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune says the captain announced 15 minutes prior to landing that there was a medical emergency and everyone must remain seated. Then 45 minutes after the plane landed came another announcement, and this time the captain announced that officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were going to take a blood sample frmo a woman who feared she could have typhoid fever.

“He said we’re all in this together, the flight crew, the attendants, everyone aboard this plane is in the same situation,”one passenger told the paper while still sitting on the tarmac. “It seems like they acted quickly, and so far everybody is taking it in stride. Everything is, I wouldn’t call it jovial, but there hasn’t been one outburst.”

Finally passengers were told they could leave the plane but to wash their hands and watch out for symptoms like high fever, weakness, stomach pain, headache or loss of appetite. It can be treated with antibiotics in most cases.

Typhoid fever might be a rare illness these days — with about 400 cases each year in the U.S., 75% of which occur after people travel internationally — but it’s still widespread in the developing world, afflicting 21.5 million people a year. It wasn’t reported if the woman had been traveling abroad before her originating flight in Miami, or whether she did indeed have typhoid fever.

You’ve got to hand it to the woman for nailing down her possible illness when the last time I heard about typhoid fever was during a particularly depressing game of Oregon Trail. Does this mean we should be on the lookout for scarlet fever or dysentery?

Flight from Miami grounded at New Orleans airport for 2 hours after typhoid fever scare [New Orleans Times-Picayune]

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