Flying Infections Risk Is 'Low'
An Australian government study has said there is a low risk of air passengers catching infections on board aircraft.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report said the belief that air travellers being at higher risk of catching infectious diseases is a false one.
The study said: "The risk of transmission of infection on board an aircraft is probably no greater than, and perhaps less than, other environments where large numbers of people are gathered together".
Researchers said the concern about infectious diseases, such as influenza and tuberculosis, being transmitted by air travel had been caused more by the perception created in the media rather than any real evidence about the potential danger of infection actually happening.
The Bureau said it was a myth that infections are spread by air in aircraft cabins being re-circulated.
The report said: "Perhaps of greater concern is the opportunity for infection to spread in airport terminals, where passengers who are travelling to or from many destinations are gathered together".
Aircraft Cabin Air Quality
The ATSB study looked into cases of infectious diseases being reported by air passengers, and they found that there was no link between the aircraft cabin air quality.
Researchers admitted there had been some cases of diseases - most notably the outbreaks of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2002 and, more recently, bird flu - where transmission occurred on board an aircraft, but they said this was because victims had been sitting close to infected passengers.
The report said the risk of catching infection of contaminated re-circulated air in an aircraft cabin was a low one.
It said cabin air systems in modern airliners are "usually designed so that air entering the cabin at a given seat row is exhausted at the same seat row. This limits the amount of air flowing towards the front and back of the aircraft".
SARS Outbreak
The report added that given the number of flights around the world, the number of cases reported where infections were caught on aircraft were "relatively infrequent".
However, the researchers said that the "increase in international travel has also heightened the risk for the global spread of infectious diseases".
The study said that if a future pandemic like the SARS outbreak were to occur, then "the aviation industry will also play a critical role in mitigating the consequences".
Source - Airport International's Aviation Correspondent
