Airports not ready for large-scale bird flu quarantine
By John Ritter, USA TODAY

The nation's major airports aren't prepared to quarantine a planeload of international passengers if someone is suspected of carrying bird flu, airport and government officials say.

Eighteen airports with heavy international traffic have small federal quarantine stations. They must rely on airlines and state and local authorities to help identify sick travelers and, if needed, quarantine other passengers.

"Do we have enough people? No," says Robert Tapia, chief of Honolulu's five-person quarantine station. "If we have 25 international flights a day here and get a surge of four or five airlines reporting illness, how do we get to them all?"