TB fears from India to US flight

More than forty people are feared to be at risk from a drug-resistant form of TB after they sat next to a woman infected with the multi-drug resistant form of the disease on a flight from India to the US.

According to the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC), a 30-year-old woman travelled on a flight between New Delhi and Chicago in mid-December, despite knowing she was infected with the disease.

While the woman is now being treated in a San Francisco hospital, US authorities are now trying to track down 44 people who sat near her on the 13-hour flight.

A CDC representative told Reuters that the case offered "a potential for transmission of drug-resistant TB infection to others."

"These persons should receive an initial evaluation and testing for TB infection, with follow-up 8 to 10 weeks after the December 13th flight for re-evaluation."

The organisation also confirmed that the search for potentially infected passengers was now covering 18 US states, and India.

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