It’s not the toilet seats, flush handles, or even the floors. Nope, it is security trays that carry the most viruses at airports.
Pandemic experts in Finland checked out Helsinki Airport for viruses. They scanned surfaces including staircase rails, restrooms, passport counters, children’s play areas, credit card terminals, and security checkpoints.
The result? Security bins/trays to process carry-on baggage for screening proved the most contaminated. Swabs picked up the influenza A virus as well as rhinovirus, which causes the common cold. Meanwhile, no viruses were found on toilet seats.
Speaking personally, this study represents an opportunity to educate the public on how viruses are spread.
For doctors and other health professionals, I understand this story is a big duh. Viruses tend to cluster around what humans touch. Humans handle security trays all day and it is unlikely these are cleaned often, compared to toilet seats or floors which are are cleaned at least once per day and often many times.
But this is a helpful reminder to wash your hands offer…what we’ve been taught all our lives.
Immediate Solutions?
Niina Ikonen, a virology expert at the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare, told the UK Guardian:
The presence of microbes in the environment of an airport has not been investigated previously. The new findings support preparedness planning for controlling the spread of serious infectious diseases in airports. The results also provide new ideas for technical improvements in airport design and refurbishment.
I’m not sure airports need re-design or refurbishment, but security bins should be cleaned at least once per day.
CONCLUSION
I am decidedly not a germaphobe, but it is no surprise I encounter colds each year during flu season considering how much I travel. While I cannot picture myself swabbing down my tray with disinfectant wipes, I will start placing all personal items inside my bag rather than in those little round trays that are usually available in TSA PreCheck lines. If that leads to one less cold this winter, I’ll have come out ahead.
image: TSA
considering what people walk in every day, shoes are pretty dirty
no one figured this out at the onset?
Abstract
Shoe soles are possible vectors for infectious diseases. Although studies have been performed to assess the prevalence of infectious pathogens on shoe soles and decontamination techniques, no systematic review has ever occurred. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review of the literature to determine the prevalence of infectious agents on shoe bottoms and possible decontamination strategies. Three electronic bibliographic databases were searched using a predefined search strategy evaluating prevalence of infectious pathogens on shoe bottoms and decontamination strategies. Quality assessment was performed independently by two reviews with disagreements resolved by consensus. Thirteen studies were identified that supported the hypothesis that shoe soles are a vector for infectious pathogens. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium difficile and multidrug-resistant Gram-negative species among other pathogens were documented on shoe bottoms in the health care setting, in the community and among food workers. Fifteen studies were identified that investigated decontamination strategies for shoe soles. A number of decontamination strategies have been studied of which none have been shown to be consistently successful at disinfecting shoe soles. In conclusion, a high prevalence of microbiological pathogens was identified from shoe soles studied in the health care, community and animal worker setting. An effective decontamination strategy for shoe soles was not identified. Studies are needed to assess the potential for contaminated shoes to contribute to the transmission of infectious pathogens.
No surprise here. Dirty electronics etc are placed on those trays and no one knows where their owners’ hands have been.
Very many years ago there was a study that headrests on plancs also contain so much bacteria (dirty hair/scalps..).
Seriously, if we were all to become germaphobes or read everything through a thick lense many of us would never leave our homes or sth. And anyway, that’s what our immunsystems are there for…
Yeah, I can only imagine how well (not really) or how often (hardly) those trays are cleaned. This is one of those “how are hot dogs made” situations. You want to know, but you really don’t.
At least we now know why the security personnel always wear latex gloves, as per the photo above. They’re protecting themselves from the dirty trays.
When they “examine” the inside of your bag they have the same gloves they’ve used on everybody else and the trays etc. Yuk! Maybe we need to request new gloves for our serch of bag or body.
TSA will not be doing anything to “sanitize” the trays especially since it was a non-US Government study not sanctioned by DHS admin drones. Certainly another wage grade would have to be added to the TSA ranks to incorporate sanitization. The best solution would be to contract this task to a third party. Still means spending $$$.