According to a recent study it is understood that the security bins at the airport is the nerve center of germs those can cause illness in human beings like common cold and flu. The researchers from the University of Nottingham in England and the Finnish National Institute for the health and Welfare have collected the samples from the commonly touched surfaces three different times at Helsinki-Vantaa airport in Finland during peak flu season in 2015 and 2016.
Most of the trays at the security checkpoints when tested, gave positive reports for germs those are capable of killing humans or can cause illness like influenza A and rhinovirus or common cold but none of these viruses were found on the toilet seats at the airport said the reports.
The researchers also say that the results make sense given that the security process is compulsory for all the passengers and the plastic security trays are “rapidly recycled and potentially touched by several hundred passengers per day.”
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“We found the highest frequency of respiratory viruses on plastic trays used in security check areas for depositing hand-carried luggage and personal items,” the scientists wrote. “These boxes typically cycle with high frequency to subsequent passengers, and are typically seized with a wide palm surface area and strong grip.” In addition to that, the plastic security trays are made up of non-porous materials those allow viruses to stay for long time. The professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical center, Dr. William Schaffner said that, it is easy to see how the trays could pick up germs. “A passenger has a virus and they breathe down into them they can deposit a little bit of virus along with their shoes and luggage into the bin,” he said.
Also, he says that flud and cold is most probable spread through air. “Someone has the virus and breathes it out. I’m within three feet and I breathe it in. That is how these viruses are spread,” said Schaffner, who was not involved in the research.
The other tested services also gave positive results for sickness abetting the germs include handrails of the stairs, the desk and divider glass at the passport control point and a plastic toy in the children’s play area.
The researchers also note that the risk of spreading the illness can be improved by offering the sanitizers for the passengers prior and later the security screenings and raising the frequency of wiping down the plastic luggage bins.
“This knowledge helps in the recognition of hot spots for contact transmission risk, which could be important during an emerging pandemic threat or severe epidemic,” they write.
The authors say the fact that they didn’t detect any respiratory viruses on toilets in the study is not really surprising, “as passengers may pay particular attention to limiting touch and to hand hygiene, in a washroom environment.”
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