Woman escorted off plane after chronic eczema was mistaken for monkeypox

A US traveller has claimed that she was kicked off her recent flight because airline employees thought her chronic eczema was monkeypox. Jacqueline Nguyen said “misinformation” about monkeypox is to blame.

Jacqueline Nguyen has suffered from the skin condition all her life and went on TikTok while crying to tell others about this. She was planning to travel with the American based Spirit Airlines but instead claims she was told she could not fly due to her eczema. “I’ve never been more humiliated in my life” Nyugen wrote on TikTok.

Monkeypox causes spots on the skin similar to pimples, blisters, or sores, and Nguyen claims anyone with a “visible non-contagious skin condition” is now being singled out.

She wrote that they made her get off the plane in front of everyone along with her wife who she was travelling with, to interrogate her about the eczema. “They asked me to provide medical documents and told my wife to watch her attitude.”

In an update Nguyen said she was allowed to re-board the flight after presenting her prescribed eczema cream to airline employees. She urged the airline to educate employees what monkeypox looks like.

According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the global outbreak of monkeypox has officials on high alert with almost 30,000 cases confirmed worldwide.

The agency said symptoms for monkeypox include fever swollen nodes, muscle aches and a rash that may be located on or near the genitals and could be on other areas like the hands, mouth, face or chest.

Nguyen said, “this has happened to other people who were not so lucky to have anything with them as ‘proof” and could lead to discrimination for other sufferers of chronic skin conditions.

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