TB Scare Worries Few Air Travelers

Passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport showed little concern Wednesday about a man who took two trans-Atlantic flights with a rare form of tuberculosis. The man, who has a drug-resistant form of the disease, is being held under guard and in quarantine at Grady Memorial Hospital.

While individual airlines have the authority to block passengers who look sick from boarding their flights, airports can do little to keep travelers who may be carrying a contagious, deadly disease from flying, officials said.

At Hartsfield-Jackson, the airport is in a constant battle to keep their facilities clean.

"It's 5.8 million square feet, so it's definitely the size of a small city so with that comes the challenge of keeping it clean," said Sterling Payne of Hartsfield-Jackson.

On an average day, more than 240,000 people pass through the world's busiest airport in Atlanta. In recent months, the airport has upgraded several things to make the facility more passenger-healthy.

"We put in stainless steel wall coverings. They're less fingerprint resistant, therefore more germ resistant. We put in tile floors to replace some of the carpeting. Again, we've noticed that it's easier to clean, therefore, it keeps the airport more healthy," Payne explained.

Tuberculosis is spread person-to-person through the air. According to the CDC, there is a relatively low risk of transmission through air travel. Some passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson said the tuberculosis scare caused by the Atlanta patient did not affect their travel habits.

"It concerns me but it won't affect the way I travel anymore because I have to travel. I don't know of any precautions I could take," said passenger Michael McBride.

"Besides taking vitamins and vitamin C, there's so many things out there to be afraid of right now so it's just not something I can be concerned with," said Wilknica Jefferson.

Hartsfield-Jackson and the airlines have a contract with the same cleaning company. They use a checks-and balanced cleaning system called a score card.

"A team of six different agencies go in, again about 3,000 times a month, and score the restrooms from the cleanliness of it, are the trash cans clean, is the toilet paper supplied, everything you can think of and then at the end of the month those numbers are tallied up and shared with the cleaning staff," Payne said.

The airport aims for a monthly score card of 85. It is currently at 95.