Taiwan To Ban People With Active TB From Long International Flights

Taiwan plans to ban people with active tuberculosis from taking international flights lasting more than eight hours, Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control announced last week, the China Post reports. The ban, which takes effect in September, was based on the World Health Organization's guidelines for preventing the spread of TB and other infectious diseases among passengers aboard aircraft. Under Taiwan's ban, people with TB who wish to travel on long flights will be required to undergo treatment for at least two weeks to ensure that they are not infectious before they leave the country. People who violate the law could be fined up to $4,550. According to CDC, the ban will affect about 6,000 people with active TB and 500 to 700 people who have drug-resistant strains of the disease. The ban will not apply to flights of less than eight hours, including domestic flights and other forms of public transportation. CDC Director Kuo Hsu-sung said the agency has alerted all local health authorities to publish related regulating procedures by July. The agency also plans to work with the Immigration Agency to list people with TB in a computerized database (China Post, 1/27).