Passenger reveals what caused diarrhoea that stopped a plane
Meghan Reinertsen, 29, was aboard a United Airlines flight from Newark to Indianapolis in the United States when she experienced 'biohazard diarrhoea', resulting in a hazmat crew boarding the plane and the next flight being cancelled.
A TikTok she posted about the experience, which has now had more than 20 million views, spoke about the July 2024 incident in detail.
'I (was) in agonising pain, I (was) just full body sweating, crying, my insides cramping,' she said in the clip.
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While social media comments and news outlets were quick to attribute Reinertsen's situation to norovirus, she has since confirmed the cause was something a lot simpler … food poisoning from a hamburger.
'I had eaten part of an undercooked burger before I left to get back to Indiana,' she confessed to the Daily Mail, saying she had only consumed a couple of bites of the bloody patty.
Although most cases don't occur in a United Airlines plane toilet, Ms Reinertsen's mid-flight gastrointestinal struggle isn't that uncommon. Meghan Reinertsen's bathroom dilemma was caused by an undercooked burger consumed before the flight. Credit: @meghanreinertsen / Instagram
According to the Centre For Disease Control And Prevention, one in seven Americans experience food poisoning annually with 128,000 people admitted to hospital due to the condition every year.
In the video, Ms Reinertsen reported the 'disturbance' in her stomach developed five hours into the flight, which aligns with the usual onset of foodborne illnesses.
Food poisoning symptoms typically start anywhere from two to six hours after a person has consumed the offending item.
Despite the tale of her destructive diarrhoea being seen by millions, Ms Reinertsen hasn't let the experience phase her — saying she is able to enjoy the humorous side of her bathroom battle and is grateful her video was able to bond people over similar experiences.
'I have had an egregious amount of people reach out to me with their own plane horror stories, which I love to hear,' Ms Reinertsen told the Daily Mail.
'I'm happy that I have been able to make people feel better about their own situations.'
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