Infectious Diseases

Commercial airline travel creates conditions conducive to the spread of infectious diseases: the proximity of passengers in a confined space and the origin of flights from anywhere on the globe. This chapter describes symptoms of infectious diseases that might emerge in an airline passenger and the steps that a responding medical professional can take to stabilize the person and minimize the exposure risk for other passengers and the crew. It also reviews guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control regarding infectious diseases that might be encountered during flights, procedures for working with pilots to alert ground crews about passengers’ medical needs, and requirements for reporting incidents to authorities after landing.