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Smallpox Scare At Sea-Tac Holds Plane For 2 1/2 Hours December 7, 2001 By KOMO Staff Email This Story SEATTLE - Eva Air's Flight 32, bound from Taiwan to Newark, N.J., was held for 2 1/2 hours at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Friday after an anonymous tipster told U.S. Customs Service agents there might be smallpox on board. A medic determined the passenger at issue - who was named by the tipster - did not have smallpox, airport spokesman Bob Parker said. The plane's 157 passengers and 14 crew were allowed to deplane at about 3:30 - some stretching their legs before continuing on to Newark, Parker said. The tipster called a New York Port Authority detective at JFK Airport about 30 minutes before the flight touched down in Seattle, said Cherise Miles, a spokeswoman for Customs in Chicago. The tipster identified a passenger by name and said the individual had smallpox, Miles said. The crew did an initial evaluation and determined the individual "did not have any symptoms of active contagious smallpox," said airport spokesman Bob Parker. That was subsequently confirmed by a firefighter-emergency medical technician with the Port of Seattle, which operates the airport, and an interpreter. Miles said the person suspected to have smallpox had been quarantined in the first class area, and the rest of the passengers were being held elsewhere on the plane. A spokeswoman for Taiwan-based Eva Air declined comment. The plane, which made its scheduled stop here shortly after 1 p.m., was to have left about 1:30 p.m. for Newark. Other airport operations were not affected, Parker said. Called-in threats "are not exactly uncommon," airport spokeswoman Katie Nowlin said, noting Sea-Tac has had 75 "white-powder incidents" since Sept. 11, none of which have involved any lethal substance. A nationwide smallpox vaccination program was discontinued in 1972, and the disease was eradicated worldwide by 1980. Two smallpox virus samples remain - one in the United States and the other in Russia. Concerns about security at the Russian lab have been exacerbated by the anthrax cases that followed the September terrorist attacks. Smallpox is contagious, and roughly 30 percent of those who contract it die. But the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently recommended no vaccinations be given unless an outbreak occurs THIS IS THE LATEST........I hope they are sure about this could a medic determine it this quick?