The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed criteria for when to consider a person with tuberculosis to be infectious when on an airplane. This is based on both clinical and laboratory features.
Criteria - all of the following:
(1) at least one of the following:
(1a) positive sputum for acid fast bacilli (AFB)
(1b) positive sputum culture for M. tuberculosis
(2) clinical symptoms of tuberculosis (including cough) at the time of the flight
(3) one of the following at the time of the flight:
(3a) not receiving adequate antituberculous therapy
(3b) susceptible strain AND receiving adequate therapy for < 2 weeks
(3c) susceptible strain AND treated for >= 2 weeks AND (no evidence of either clinical improvement or sputum conversion to negative)
(3d) multi-drug resistant strain AND no evidence of culture conversion to negative
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