Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Feb 6, 2020; 8(3): 546-551
Published online Feb 6, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i3.546
Boarding issue in a commercial flight for patients with cavitary pulmonary tuberculosis: A case report
Woori Jo, Chuiyong Pak, Yangjin Jegal, Kwang Won Seo
Woori Jo, Chuiyong Pak, Yangjin Jegal, Kwang Won Seo, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Ulsan University Hospital, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Ulsan 44033, South Korea
Author contributions: Seo KW was the patient’s physician, reviewed the literature, and contributed to manuscript drafting; Jo W reviewed the literature and contributed to manuscript drafting; Pak C analyzed and made the imaging files; Jegal Y performed the cavitary pulmonary tuberculous diseases consultation, reviewed the literature, and drafted the manuscript; all authors issued final approval for the version to be submitted.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Kwang Won Seo, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Ulsan University Hospital, 877 Bangeojinsunwhan-doro, Dong-gu, Ulsan 44033, South Korea. kwseo@uuh.ulsan.kr
Received: November 12, 2019
Peer-review started: November 12, 2019
First decision: December 23, 2019
Revised: January 9, 2020
Accepted: January 15, 2020
Article in press: January 15, 2020
Published online: February 6, 2020
Processing time: 85 Days and 20.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Patients with cavitary pulmonary tuberculosis (CPTB) could have an active infection for longer periods than non-CPTB patients. Air travel may be inevitable for these patients, but the paucity of consistent guidelines regulating the protocol for permitting air travel for such patients renders decision making difficult. Based on this case, we think that if air travel is unavoidable for patients with CPTB who are still considered potentially infectious, it might be possible to board the flight if proper anti-TB medication is administered, confirmatory acid-fast bacilli smear tests are negative, and a suitable N95 mask is worn under observation.