Based on the information provided, I do not have enough context to determine a specific cause for the "red sweat" mystery. The documents describe symptoms reported by flight attendants on certain flights, but do not indicate a confirmed cause. More investigation would be needed to adequately explain all aspects of what is observed.
Web & Social Media Analytics Previous Year Question Paper.pdf
The case of the red sweat mystery
1. The Case of the “Red Sweat”
As a Hollywood horror flick, it might be called “The Rash.” Scenario: On Eastern Airlines flights over the
Atlantic between New York City and Florida, flight attendants begin to contract a strange, oozing rash on their
faces, neck, chest and hands. The fluid escaping from their inflamed pores looks like blood, though it is
not, and so the rash is called “red sweat.” Others are stricken by reddish blotches of pinprick-size dots. But
either way, before a doctor can diagnose it, the mysterious rash disappears – until, perhaps, the next flight
over the Atlantic to Florida. For Eastern’s baffled management, the story is all too real. For the past three
months, more than 90 flight attendants have reported cases of the “red sweat”, many of them more than
once. Nearly all are women, and most have been stricken on Eastern’s new European-produced A300 Airbus
jets flying between New York and Miami or Fort Lauderdale. No passengers or other crew have shown
symptoms, and no rashes have been reported on inland flights. In all cases, the symptoms vanish, leaving the
victims wondering if the affliction is only skin deep. “We just can’t track this thing down” admits Dr. David
Millett, Eastern’s flight medicine director. “It’s spooky, really spooky.”
A rash of theories resulted. The cause is…
The air in the new jet cabins being too dry.
The special fluid used to clean the plane’s food ovens.
A combination of factors, such as altitude
changes, genetic susceptibility, or even cosmetics.
In an effort to solve the mystery, doctors from New York’s Columbia –
Presbyterian Medical Center seemed ready to try a bit of shuttle
dermatology: flying on Eastern’s New-York to Florida jets to make on-the-
spot diagnoses.
2. Red Sweat Mystery
Eastern Airlines flight attendants have been plagued all winter by a mystery malady:
red spots, exuding a blood-like fluid, appear randomly on faces, hands, and necks. Physicians
and scientists have been unable to explain the rash, which so far has manifested itself almost
exclusively on A300 flights between New York and Florida.
Flight attendants are in a panic. Some believe they are sweating blood, though an
Eastern spokesperson said there is no evidence the fluid is blood. Still, Eastern has launched a
major effort at finding the cause of the malady. “We are doing all we can to pin this down,”
says Dr. David Millet, Eastern’s director of flight medicine. “We don’t want flight attendants
with red spots.:
The spots, which are approximately pin-prick in size, last for hours and then disappear
without explanation. So far at least 60 flight attendants have reported cases of the “red
sweat” and many have had it more than once. Records show 120 incidences in the last two
months, though a few cases can be traced back as far as two years.
Describing her bout with the spots, one Eastern flight attendant, who declined to giver her
name said, “My face became warm and flushed, with a burning sensation. So I looked in the
mirror and there was a pinkish fluid oozing out of my left cheeck and I though ‘Oh my
God, what is this?’” After wiping her face she kept working but claims her faced itched and
burned for hours. The red spots subsided but she complained of dry and irritated skin for
more than a week.
3. Red Sweat Mystery
Reports files with the union and Eastern show similar experiences with other flight
attendants on the A300. Bleeding on the neck “resembling a razor burn in that is has small spots”
was reported January 29. A flight attendant on a January 31 flight complained of “bleeding of
forehead and cheeks” and another described “blood coming out of my pores” on February 9.
Easter n has asked doctors from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons to
examine a number of flight attendants. Eastern has also looked for assistance from NASA, the US Air
Force, and Duke University.
Independent consultants are also checking the airplanes. Nothing as yet has pointed to a
cause. “We just can’t track this thing down – it’s spooky, really spooky,” comments Dr. Millet of
Eastern.
People are drawing comparisons between the hacking cough suffered by flight attendants
several years ago and the current “red sweat” outbreak. The illness was eventually attributed to
ozone gas in the flight cabin. To solve that problem, filters were added to the air-circulation system.
Eastern was initially slow to respond to the “red sweat,” thinking that, because pilots and
passengers have shown no symptoms, the flight attendants must be exhibiting some sort of mass
hysteria. However, some attendants saw their symptoms to be real enough to fear they were
hemophiliacs. Testing has yet to show anyone suffering from hemophilia or any other blood
disorder.
4. Red Sweat Mystery
Dry cabin air, combined with exertion and altitude changes, is considered a possible
cause, along with cosmetics. A rare condition called chrome hydrosis (colored
perspiration), triggered by genetic factors and bacteria, could also explain the symptoms. Or
they might be explained by contaminants in the plane, such as galley cleaning fluids, causing
a chemical burn.
One flight attendant was diagnosed with a chemical burn by a Columbia doctor and
given cortizone, but Dr. Maureen Poh, a dermatologist leading the Columbia team says their
investigation is still underway and they have not made any conclusions.
Regardless, some flight attendants have begun to avoid the A300. A flight attendant
who now has had three episodes of the red sweat says, “I flew that plane two months ago
and nothing happened. Now every time I go near that airplane, I get hit.” She also says
repeated exposure has made each reaction worse. At the same time some flight attendants
have developed the spots on their first A300 flight.
Eastern has tried to calm the flight attendants by pointing to the fact that they are
unaware of any long-term effects, but this has done little to reassure them. “We don’t know
what it is, what effects it might have, and if we’re breathing something in, whether it is
causing internal damage,” says one flight attendant. “One of my girlfriends has broken blood
vessels all over her face. She looks like she has aged terribly,” said another.
5. Red Sweat Mystery
The union is pushing Eastern hard for a solution. “Our workers are ‘bleeding’ on the
job, and we don’t know why,” says Robert Callahan, president of Local 553 of the Transport
Workers Union, adding “I told the airline that if they don’t solve this thing posthaste, we’re
going to request the A300 be grounded.”
Eastern appears to be the only airline afflicted with this problem. No other airline has
reported a similar problem and Airbus Industrie, makers of the A300, says foreign carriers
have not encountered anything similar.
As reported in The Wall Street Journal, Time, and by The Associated Press during early
March 1980.
6. Red Sweat Mystery: Additional Information
•As of the first year, new soft cleansers are used to clean plastic panels such as microwave
oven doors and inside window pane covers.
•Steel galley counters and rest room surfaces in Eastern A300s are coated with a special
super tough polymer coating when the planes are fitted for service.
•Beverage carts have can roll racks which are coated with a special plastic to reduce noise.
Studies have show this new plastic is also extremely durable.
•Since they are replacing older Easter aircraft on many overwater routes, these A300s are
equipped with new passenger life vests and demo equipment. All A300 crew were trained to
use the new vests and to show passengers how to use them before they starting flying in
January.
•Eastern has been testing a new poly-sorbant air filter cartridge in the A300 to remove galley
odors from cabin air before they can be circulated throughout the cabin. The three-month
rest will conclude April 6.
