Wants Fellow Travelers To Get Checked ASAP

Stop us if you've heard this one before. An airline passenger on an international flight is feared to have contaminated 44 fellow passengers with multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis, after disregarding a diagnosis and flying anyway.

This time, it's a 30-year-old woman from India. Officials at the US Centers for Disease Control say she flew from New Delhi to Chicago on American Airlines Flight 293 on December 13, then on to California onboard a domestic flight.

Reuters reports that unlike Andrew Speaker, however -- the symptom-free Atlanta lawyer who caused a similar ruckus last year -- the Indian woman had sought treatment after suffering fever, chest pain and coughing up blood.

Citing "a potential for transmission of drug-resistant TB infection to others," CDC officials stress anyone seated within two rows of the woman, and crewmembers on both flights, should get check-ups immediately, with follow-ups in 8-to-10 weeks.

"It's too early to say whether there are any additional cases," said CDC spokeswoman Christine Pearson. She did not say how many passengers have been reached so far.

FMI: www.cdc.gov