HEALTH

You Don't Even Want to Know

the Results of This Airport Germ
Study

George Dvorsky

9/05/18 2:10pm

Filed to: ​PUBLIC HEALTH

79.3K

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A Transportation Security Administration agent at the security gate at Oakland International
Airport in Oakland, CA.Photo: AP
New research identifies the various ways in which we’re most likely to come into contact

with communicable diseases at airports. Turns out that toilets are surprisingly clean, but

the same cannot be said for those plastic bins used at airport security, which are

absolutely covered in viruses.

Airports are stressful even in the best of circumstances. In addition to making sure we

board our flight on time, we have to go through the tedious rigamarole of checking

luggage, keeping boarding passes and identification handy, and, of course, passing

through airport security. And all the while we’re touching things. ​So many things.​

Handrails, doorknobs, desktop surfaces, plastic bins, ATMs, and so on.

Making matters worse, all this touching is happening in an environment filled with a

never-ending stream of travelers. Airports provide sickness-causing viruses ample

vector points from which they can leap from victim to victim. Epidemiologists are fully
aware of how airports can foster and spread diseases, warning travelers to wash their

hands and cover their coughs.

Yet surprisingly little is known about the specific ways in which germs are disseminated

within airports. To overcome this knowledge gap, a team of British and Finnish

researchers conducted a study to identify and quantify the respiratory viruses on

frequently touched surfaces at airports. Their ​results​, published this week in BMC

Infectious Diseases, show which surfaces are most likely to harbor germs, and the kinds

of respiratory diseases that exist in airports.

“The new findings support preparedness planning for controlling the spread of serious

infectious diseases in airports,” Niina Ikonen, a virologist from the Finnish National

Institute for Health and Welfare and a co-author of the new study, said in a statement.

“The results also provide new ideas for technical improvements in airport design and

refurbishment.”

A security screener stacks trays at a security checkpoint at Logan International Airport in

Boston.Image: AP
For the study, Ikonen and her colleagues visited the Helsinki-Vantaa airport in Finland

at the height of the flu season during the winter of 2015-2016. Swabs of commonly

touched surfaces were made both during and after peak traveling hours. The scientists

employed a method in which genetic material gathered by the swabs could be detected

later in the lab. The researchers also extracted air samples to see if any viruses were

floating around the airport.

In all, 90 surfaces were tested, including toilet bowl lids, escalator handrails, elevator

buttons, chair armrests, trolley handles, toys in the children’s play area, and so on. An

astounding 10 percent of the surfaces tested harbored a respiratory virus of some sort.
Of these germ-laden surfaces, the plastic trays circulated at airport security were the

worst; four out of eight trays swabbed, or 50 percent, were found to contain a virus.

Each of the four viruses found on the plastic bins were distinct, and included

adenovirus​, ​influenza A​ (a virus that causes the seasonal flu), ​rhinovirus​ (which causes

the common cold), and ​human coronavirus​. That plastic trays at airport security

contained the highest levels of viruses shouldn’t come as a surprise. As the researchers

write in the their study:

Our main findings identify that respiratory virus contamination of frequently touched

surfaces is not uncommon at airports; and that plastic security screening trays appear

commonly contaminated. The latter is consistent with security procedures being an

obligatory step for all departing passengers, and that each security tray is rapidly recycled

and potentially touched by several hundred passengers per day. Also, that plastic security

trays are non-porous and virus survival is known to be prolonged.

What’s more, these bins are not routinely (if ever) disinfected. Risk of infection, the

researchers say, could be significantly reduced if airports offered hand sanitizers and/or

alcohol hand rubs to travellers both before and after security screening. And the bins

should be routinely cleaned, the say.

In addition to the plastic bins, other surfaces containing high concentrations of viruses

included shop payment terminals, staircase rails, passport-checking counters, and toys

in children’s play areas. At 40 percent, rhinovirus was the most common germ detected

by the researchers. The other viruses, in order of frequency, included coronavirus (30

percent), adenovirus (20 percent), and influenza A (10 percent). Only one airborne virus

was detected (an adenovirus), and it was found floating around the security check area.
In an ironic twist, no respiratory viruses were detected in the toilet area, whether it be

the upper surface of the toilet bowl lid, the flushing button, or the lock on the door.

Which kind of makes sense, as “passengers may pay particular attention to limiting

touch and to hand hygiene, in a washroom environment,” the researchers write in the

study.

It’s important to point out that this study was limited to one airport. Results could be

different elsewhere, given that variances exist in traveling populations, climate, cultural

hygiene habits, and other factors. Also, this study didn’t actually prove that the viruses

found on the surfaces were actually causing infections in people—but “previous

experimental research has proven that many microbes survive on various surface

materials up to several days,” the researchers write.

This study has some important takeaways for virologists, health workers, and airport

officials, but travelers should take heed as well.

“This study supports the case for improved public awareness of how viral infections

spread,” Jonathan Van Tam, a professor of health protection at the University of

Nottingham and a co-author of the new study, said in a statement. “People can help to

minimize contagion by hygienic hand washing and coughing into a handkerchief, tissue,

or sleeve at all times but especially in public places. These simple precautions can help

prevent pandemics and are most important in crowded areas like airports that have a

high volume of people travelling to and from many different parts of the world.”

No question about it, washing hands is critical—​here’s how to do it properly​.

[​BMC Infectious Diseases​]

Source:
https://gizmodo.com/you-dont-even-want-to-know-the-results-of-this-airport-182882745
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