(WXYZ) — The Ebola outbreak impacting some countries in Africa created a scare in the air for many metro Detroiters.
See the story from Brittany Toolis in the video below
A Detroit-bound flight from Paris was diverted to Canada on Wednesday night after U.S. Customs discovered a passenger from a country currently affected by the outbreak was allowed on the plane.
There have been 131 deaths associated with the outbreak and 543 suspected cases, with 33 confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as two confirmed cases in Uganda.
The U.S. has issued travel restrictions for Congo, Uganda and South Sudan.
Air France said the passenger was taken off the flight in Montreal, and then the rest of the passengers returned to Detroit Metro Airport on Thursday night.
There was no medical emergency on board and it's not believed the passenger was showing active symptoms.
One woman on board said about halfway through the flight, the captain told them they were being diverted and then flight attendants started putting on mass.
They didn't really tell us why," Deborah Mistor said. "The captain said that it was the U.S. government not allowing us to land in Detroit."
Mistor was on Air France flight 375 when it was diverted to Montreal with no explanation.
"By that point, the flight attendants all had masks on, which no one had prior to the announcement. So it was really concerning, like, what is going on here? Why are we not being allowed to land?" she said.
Mistor said the only information given came from a flight attendant, saying that a passenger from the Democratic Republic of Congo was on board, an area hit by the Ebola outbreak. U.S. CBS confirmed in a statement that the passenger shouldn't have been on the flight.
"This particular passenger did not have any active symptoms or showing any signs of any Ebola activity," Mistor said.
Dr. Matthew Sims, the medical director of infectious disease research for Corewell Health East, said people shouldn't panic.
"It doesn’t spread super easily. It tends to spread more in areas of the world where you just don't have that tracking in place," he said.
On Sunday, the World Health Organization declared the oubreak in Africa a public health emergency of international concern. Then Monday, the CDC ordrered a 30-day entry restirction on non-US Passport holders who've been in the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan in the past 21 days.
Neither airline has offered us any information whatsoever. No health officials offered us any info," Mistor said. "Should we be concerned? Was that person exposed? Was this just an overabundance of caution? What steps should we be taking to protect ourselves or anyone around us*
Officials are looking into how the passenger was allowed to board the flight.
