The Red Sweat

A strange malady in the sky

As a Hollywood horror flick, its title might be The Rash. Scenario: on Eastern Air Lines' regular flights between New York City and Florida, stewardesses and a few stewards begin to contract a strange, oozing rash on their faces, chests 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 New York-Florida flight.

For Eastern's baffled management, the story is all too real. Since January, more than 90 flight attendants have reported cases of 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 pilots have shown any symptoms. In all cases the rash has vanished, leaving its 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 has resulted. One is that the air in the new jet cabins is too dry and induces skin breakouts. Also suspect is a fluid used to clean the planes' food ovens. Another possibility is a combination of factors, such as altitude changes, genetic susceptibility and 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-Florida jets to make on-the-spots diagnoses.

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