Passengers on Israel-to-Canada flight become ill with Noro virus

Canadian airport and public health officials defended their handling of an outbreak on a flight from Israel two nights ago, saying there was no risk of disease spreading from passengers who fell ill during the ten-hour flight. Paramedics met Air Canada flight 085 when it landed at Pearson airport after about eight passengers became sick, and kept 75 of the 201 travelers on the flight in isolation for up to four hours. Toronto National Post reports that the Public Health Agency of Canada officials who met the passengers on the ground determined they were suffering from acute gastroenteritis, with symptoms including vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea. The health officials decided they did not pose a risk to the general public and released all but three of them within four hours. Paramedics had already cleared more than half of the seventy-five passengers who had displayed no symptoms and who were not part of the tour group that included most of those who were ill. The three most severely affected by the bug were later sent to hospital. “None of the ill travelers were detained for public health reasons under federal authority, i.e. the Quarantine Act,” the health agency said in a release. “Other passengers at Pearson Airport were not put at risk.”

Dr. Donald Low, the head of microbiology at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, said the travellers had almost certainly fallen victim to the Noro virus, known as “the winter vomiting disease.” Although it makes people miserably sick for 24 to 48 hours, it is rarely fatal, he said. “They knew that they weren’t dealing with a serious threat to public health,” he said today. “Letting those people into the country won’t pose a risk at all.”

Some passengers on the flight complained, however, that they were given little or no information about the situation and that the process of clearing them took nearly five hours. Many said that friends and relatives awaiting their arrival at the airport were not given any information as to why some travelers were delayed. Scott Armstrong, a spokesman for the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, said that only a handful of passengers were delayed by that long and most were on their way in about an hour. “There were very few people that were waiting that long,” he said. He acknowledged however, that those waiting for passengers from the flight should have been told what was happening earlier. “That’s definitely something we’re looking at improving on next time.”

The Public Health Agency of Canada has recommended that Air Canada thoroughly clean the aircraft that was carrying the sick passengers to ensure andy potentially contaminated areas have been disinfected. Some of the passengers on the plane, including those who became sick, were flying with Birthright Israel, a travel group that organizes guided tours of Israel for young Jewish Americans and Canadians. The group told Global Toronto that some people on its tour likely ate a bad breakfast before boarding the flight.