AirStar6

A passenger from Flight 1014 is wheeled into an ambulance.

Passengers onboard a flight landing at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport on Friday were quarantined for several hours because a fellow passenger claimed he had smallpox.

The threat was proven false after the man was taken to Carolinas Medical Center for testing. Health officials said he showed no sign of the disease, which was eradicated nearly 30 years ago.

The 112 passengers and four crew members on Flight 1014 from New Orleans were cleared to leave the plane at around 7:30 p.m., after being detained upon landing four hours earlier.

Passenger Donna George said that after the plane landed, the pilot made an announcement that there was a “safety issue” on the plane.

"We had no idea what was happening, whether it was a bomb on the plane, whether there was somebody there keeping us hostage,” George said.

Reade Decurtins said he was sitting two rows behind the man when he suspected something was wrong.

“We could tell that the stewardesses were having conversations with him, and I could tell by the expressions on their faces that something was awry,” he said.

The airline is now backing off initial reports that the passenger who made the remark was intoxicated.

The Mecklenburg County Health Department authorized local paramedics to take the man off the flight to be examined. Meanwhile, under federal guidelines, all the passengers had to stay put until the threat could be confirmed or proven false.

The passenger was taken to CMC for testing, and the results were negative, spokesman Scott White said.

Passenger Tucker Juan described how federal agents boarded the plane.

"Two guards came on, and they had a mask on,” he said. “It was pretty scary.”

As a precaution, passengers had to give their names, addresses and phone numbers so authorities could reach them.

Most passengers seemed to take the situation in stride.

"It was frustrating for six hours on a plane, but what can you do?" Juan said.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, the Mecklenburg County Health Department, and US Airways officials responded to the scene. From AirStar6, medics in personal protective gear could be seen wheeling a stretcher with the passenger to an ambulance, which transported him to CMC for testing.

US Airways spokeswoman Michelle Mohr could not say how many people had to spend the night in Charlotte because they missed their connecting flights. But she said if anyone did, the airline was putting them up in a hotel.

The last natural case of smallpox occurred in 1977 in Somalia, and the World Health Organization reported in 1980 that it had eradicated the disease.

Despite the lack of current cases of smallpox, the federal government ordered certain military personnel vaccinated and recommended shots for front-line health care workers following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

(The Associated Press and WCNC reporter Frances Kuo contributed to this report.)