With hundreds of passengers on Emirates Flight 203 from Dubai to New York off the plane and evaluated, health officials will try to pinpoint the cause of the illness that sent 10 passengers to the hospital and left dozens of other passengers reportedly feeling sick.
The investigation of what went wrong will involve the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state, local and airport officials.
Officials will zero in on passengers on the Airbus A380 superjumbo jet who got sick as well as those who didn’t to try to determine the source of the illness, according to Dr. Robert Amler, dean of New York Medical College’s School of Health Sciences and Practice and a former CDC chief medical officer and New York Regional Health Administrator.
MORE: Emirates plane briefly quarantined at JFK airport after 19 passengers are deemed sick
“This is really medical detective work,” he said.
Among the questions that will be asked, Amler said:
- Were the passengers who went to the hospital seated in a particular section of the plane or spread throughout the plane?
- What did the affected passengers eat on the plane?
- At what point in the long flight did they get sick? And did they all get sick at once or was it gradual?
“In a disease investigation of any kind, you begin with trying to say what is common on the sick and still was rare among the well?” Amler said.
IN PICTURES: Emirates flight quarantined at John F. Kennedy airport (story continues below)
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