Avoiding germs while traveling
Dec. 12, 2008 by Lisa Currie
With the end of the semester looming, most of us will be traveling soon — locally, domestically, even internationally. Given that many of us are feeling depleted already from a long list of things to accomplish, taking extra precautions to avoid illness is especially important.
CNN Health interviewed Dr. Mark Gendreau, a senior staff physician at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts, who offers five simple things we can all do to avoid getting sick while traveling:
1. Sit toward the front of the airplane
“Pick a seat near the front, since ventilation systems on most commercial aircraft provide better air flow in the front of the aircraft,” Gendreau advised. If you can afford it, sit in first class, where people aren’t so squished together.
2. Don’t drink coffee or tea on an airplane
Monitoring by the Environmental Protection Agency shows that water in airplanes’ water tanks isn’t always clean — and coffee and tea are usually made from that water, not from bottled water, according to Victoria Day, a spokeswoman for the Air Transport Association.
The EPA advises anyone with a suppressed immune system or anyone who’s “concerned” about bacteria to refrain from drinking coffee or tea on an airplane.
“While boiling water for one minute will remove pathogens from drinking water, the water used to prepare coffee and tea aboard a plane is not generally brought to a sufficiently high temperature to guarantee that pathogens are killed,” according to the EPA’s Web site.
According to the EPA, out of 7,812 water samples taken from 2,316 aircraft, 2.8 percent were positive for coliform bacteria. Although that sounds like a small number, this means 222 samples contained coliform bacteria.
3. Sanitize your hands after leaving an airplane bathroom
A toilet on an airplane “is among the germiest that you will encounter almost anywhere,” said Charles Gerba, an environmental microbiologist at the University of Arizona who’s also known as “Dr. Germ.”
“You have 50 people per toilet, unless you are flying a discount airline; then it is 75,” Gerba said. “We always find E. coli on surfaces in airplane restrooms.”
You should wash your hands after using the restroom, but because the water itself might have harmful bacteria (see No. 2 above) and because the door handle on your way out has been touched by all those who went before you, Gendreau also advises sanitizing your hands when you return to your seat.
4. Wash or sanitize your hands after getting off an escalator
Gendreau says tests show that escalators in airports are full of germs. To confirm these tests, here’s a fun activity while you wait for your flight this Thanksgiving: Look at your watch, and count how many people get an escalator in a five-minute time period. Multiply that by 12, and you have how many people are on that escalator every hour. High-volume handrails are why Gendreau sanitizes his hands as soon as he can after he exits an escalator.
5. Wash or sanitize your hands after using an ATM
Gendreau says ATMs, especially in busy places like airports, are full of germs. As with escalators, he sanitizes ASAP after using one.
Gendreau says that keeping healthy while traveling can be summed up in six words: “hand hygiene, hand hygiene, hand hygiene.”
Keeping your hands clean is crucial, he says, when you’re spending the day touching surfaces that have been touched by hundreds or thousands of people before you.