Retired rear admiral: Smallpox scare was a misunderstanding, false alarm

By Tony Cook

Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Here’s a job interview question that’s never fun to answer: Why did you create a smallpox scare on a crowded airplane?

The question is especially awkward when you’re a retired Navy rear admiral applying for the Chief executive position at a county hospital.

But it’s a question Brian Brannman will have to answer as one of three finalists for the top job at University Medical Center.

In March, Brannman was flying home to San Diego from a health care conference in New Orleans. A police report says that during a layover in Charlotte, N.C., a US Airways gate supervisor reported that Brannman told crew members and some passengers, “I have just infected all of you with smallpox.”

The gate supervisor also told police that Brannman had been drinking on the flight. Authorities quarantined the plane’s 113 passengers and escorted Brannman to a hospital, where he tested negative for the disease, according to news reports.

So how does Brannman explain this?

During the flight, the guy next to him was looking at information about anthrax on his laptop computer, Brannman said.

Many on the flight were from the conference and some — including Brannman — were feeling ill, he said.

“I thought, something’s not right,” he said.

He had a decision to make: Express his concern and risk sounding crazy, or keep quiet and risk a pandemic.

During his long military career, he had worked at the Pentagon and had been involved in the response to anthrax attacks on Capitol Hill. One scenario the military had modeled was a convention where attendees were slimed with an agent, then dispersed all over the world, he said. And now he was on a flight with a bunch of people who had just attended a 12,000-person conference, Brannman said.

“I don’t impulsively do stuff,” he said. But “any kind of lag on this stuff and it can jump and get away from you.”

So he explained his concern to the flight staff.

By the time those concerns made their way into the police report, there had apparently been some misunderstandings, he said. He never claimed to have infected anyone with smallpox and he was not drunk, he said. Public health officials ran some tests and released him the next morning.

“It’s kind of like you pull the fire alarm handle and it turns out to be burnt popcorn down the hall,” he said. “I feel comfortable about it.”

He’ll likely be telling that story a few more times as finalists for the UMC job meet with Clark County officials in coming days.