The Meeting Place > Travellers Corner > Where Germs lurk on Planes.

Where Germs lurk on Planes.

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10 yrs ago

Having had a good 5 days in Sydney I ended up on antibiotics this weekend with an Upper respiratory staph infection, quite common for plane travellers to end up with bad colds/flu after plane travel so never having happened to me before decided to look up why. Air filtration is good but looks like the real danger is from direct contact with different surfaces.

Thinking about it, how many of us travelling even think of wiping down our tray or personal touch video screen and controls when we get to our seat or that the seat pocket we put our book in could give us an infection?

This link highlights where germs lurk

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204058404577108420985863872

next time I fly I am going to be prepared taking some alcohol wipes with me.

5 comments
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AmandaR
10 yrs ago

Sorry to hear that you got sick vivity. It is a bit disconcerting when you hear your fellow travellers coughing up a storm. Good advice on the alcohol wipes.

We used to use bleach to wipe off equipment after a patient had been in contact if we wanted something even more effective than ethanol in order to prevent cross contamination but can't imagine airlines would be happy with that! A child with a runny nose could easily leave bacteria on the video control for the next passenger for instance. I will be more careful next time in wiping things down before using.

The new planes on the Perth/Sydney route are great though and saw the fires South of Sydney too. Love Sydney just don't like the humidity but we are isolated in the West.

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Abby
10 yrs ago

Yes Viv the alcohol wipes sound like a very good idea.

Strange the comments about the humidity as it has been very dry for an extended period hence the bush fire problems. Having worked in Sydney in the past, cannot say I ever felt the humidity comparing it to Darwin and New Guinea, then again I worked in air con office

Hope you are feeling better now :)

Thanks Abby today have begun to rebound and dog has had a deserved walk on the Beach. Re Humidity I guess I think in part of Sydney/humidity as when I arrived in Aust. as a £10 POM in March I was amazed at peeling myself off vinyl bus seats and it has coloured my views ever since! Since then I realised Singapore, Durban, Mauritius are probably worse but first impressions linger.

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jaywalker
10 yrs ago

I've had a couple of the worst infections I've had from plane trips. One was a really nasty inner ear infection and another a long lingering cough. Can't see how you can totally avoid it but the wipes may help.

Last year we did a long cruise from Dover to Los Angeles and noro virus broke out and five people were taken off the ship at various points via helicopter mid-ocean, and pilot boat off the US coast and in the middle of the Panama Canal. We were lucky and didn't catch it but the crew spent almost the entire trip sanitizing and cleaning and we weren't allowed to serve ourselves at the buffet. Very nasty for those who caught it - and hopefully they had good travel insurance.

I always take a packet of large antibacterial wipes and I wipe down the handset and anything else I can wipe down that is in the area I will be occupying and I also use them on my hands before and after I eat etc.  So far never caught a thing on a plane.

i drink lots of red wine.

the alcohol kills the germs before they can do me any damage

5 comments



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