JFK airport: Passengers on quarantined Emirates flight from Dubai had flu, tests show

Ten people taken to hospital after an Emirates airliner was quarantined at New York’s JFK airport have tested positive for influenza, authorities have said.

Tests for other viruses came back inconclusive and the patients will be kept in hospital as a precaution until further results have come back, said Eric Phillips, a spokesman for New York mayor Bill de Blasio.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) quarantined the jet upon arrival from Dubai on Wednesday morning after 106 passengers and crew reported feeling ill.

Medical personnel from the CDC boarded the plane to assist examine the passengers, many of whom complained fevers, headaches, sore throats and coughs.

The jet, a double-decker Airbus 380 that is the world’s largest passenger aircraft, was taken to a location away from the airport’s terminal so emergency services could inspect it.

Among the 521 passengers was rapper Vanilla Ice, but was not among those who fell ill.

“So I just landed in New York coming back from Dubai and now I’m stuck on the runway with like 1,000 police, ambulances, fire trucks,” he tweeted.

He added: “This is crazy. Apparently there is over 100 people sick on the bottom floor, so happy I’m up top.”

Some of the passengers on the jet had attended the annual Haj pilgrimage to the Muslim holy city of Mecca, where there has been a recent flu outbreak.

The virus could also have been transmitted between passengers during the 14-hour flight, said Oxiris Barbot, New York City’s acting health commissioner.

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

Flu is transmitted through respiratory secretions spread by coughing or sneezing and then either inhaled or picked up from surfaces on a person’s hands.

The 10 people taken to hospital from the Emirates flight were all in a stable condition and did not need “extreme” medical attention, Ms Barbot said.

A further nine people were confirmed to be ill but refused medical attention.

The “vast majority” of passengers who reported feeling unwell were found to be free of any illness when screened. Some were probably “what we call the worried well”, Ms Barbot said.

However, it is still rare for so many people on a single commercial flight to fall ill at once, said Demetre Daskalakis, New York’s deputy commissioner for disease control.

Additional reporting by agencies