Scabies Alert: Don't Touch Anything At Logan Airport This Week

April 15, 2009 at 10:35 AM | by egw | Comment (1)

A lot of what the TSA does makes us itchy, and this week their blog gave us even more reason to be paranoid: The Evolution of Security blog took on several recent cases of scabies at Boston's Logan Airport and, um... can you come over here and look at this rash for us?

Scabies is caused by a parasite and can be passed on easily through whatever the infected person touches (ticket counters, X-ray bins, security screeners' gloves... ick!) Containment and cleaning is really the only prevention for the bug, which once caught can be treated topically. The slightly-less-horrible news is that only five cases coming out of Logan have been confirmed as scabies, and the Boston Public Health Commission is on the case to help keep that number down.

Still, we are not reassured by the blog's mention that while screening areas at Logan were professionally cleaned, TSA employees were just told to wash their work clothes and belongings themselves at home. Anyone could have brought in the parasite, but it's up to those who get the closest to the most passengers to keep the problem from getting worse.

Elsewhere on the Evolution of Security blog, "Blogger Bob" talks to the TSA chief counsel about last week's stacks o'cash issue, proving that some Americans still have large stacks o'cash (and, apparently, are carrying them around unarmed! Pirate alert!) And unintentional comedy ensued when the blog basically admitted the TSA website is a mess by presenting a collection of links for pre-flight reading.

If we can predict what Blogger Bob will cover in the next week, we're putting our money on this "consumer watch" story from Seattle about some special missing luggage. Local lawyer and PTA volunteer Noel Nightingale checked her mother's ashes on an Alaska Airlines flight to Denver en route to bury her in Wyoming, only to find that the cremated remains were missing from her suitcase, even though the plastic urn was still there.

Official TSA policy holds that cremated remains can be checked pending an X-ray and explosives test, and "out of respect to the deceased and their family and friends, under no circumstances will a screener open the container," so at least one person at SeaTac is in violation here. Our condolences to Ms. Nightingale and we hope this has just been a really terrible mix-up.

Related Stories:
· Two Scabies Cases Reported at Boston Logan International Airport [Evolution of Security]
· Cremated remains vanish at Sea-Tac Airport [NWCN.com]
· Transporting the Deceased [TSA.gov]

[Photo of a pilot who has cleanliness on his mind: dlarowe]

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