Report Says TB Travel Ban Doesn’t Help

A controversial new study suggests that rules barring air travel by people with tuberculosis (TB) are too strict. The study reviewed 13 previous studies. It found that there’s little risk of catching TB from another passenger. U.S. health officials disagreed with the conclusions. So did an expert interviewed by the Associated Press. Global and U.S. rules require testing fellow passengers when a TB infection is found later in someone who flew recently. The study looked at research on 4,300 people who were on a flight with someone who had TB. Only 10 TB infections later were diagnosed. No one had active TB disease. The study’s author said tests should be done only if the infected person has infected others. But he supported more caution in the case of drug-resistant TB. The study was published February 21 in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.