Eleven people aboard Emirates flight hospitalised in apparent flu outbreak

NEW YORK: Eleven people on an Emirates airline flight were taken to a New York City hospital suffering flu-like symptoms on Wednesday after scores of passengers and crew complained of feeling sick during a 14-hour trip from the Middle East, officials said.

Laboratory tests on respiratory samples from the patients have yet to confirm the illness, but their histories and symptoms - fever, cough and vomiting - indicate influenza, said Dr. Oxiris Barbot, New York City's acting health commissioner.

Some passengers in recent days had attended the annual Haj pilgrimage to the Muslim holy city of Mecca on the Arabian Peninsula, a region where the flu virus was circulating, and could have contracted the illness there, Barbot said. It was also possible the virus was transmitted between passengers during the lengthy flight, she said.

All who were hospitalized were in stable condition and none was in need of “extreme” medical attention, Barbot said.

The flu's incubation period – the interval between exposure to the virus and emergence of symptoms – typically is one to seven days, Barbot said, and people who are infected can be contagious before showing signs of illness.

Flu is transmitted through respiratory secretions spread by coughing or sneezing. These are then inhaled by others or picked up from surfaces on a person's hands and rubbed into the eyes, nose or mouth.

The Emirates airliner, with at least 521 passengers, landed at John F Kennedy International Airport at mid-morning and was surrounded by dozens of emergency vehicles as anxious passengers waited to be evaluated by health officials.