Scientists Recommend Precautions for Safer Air Travel

ARLINGTON, VA June 20, 2003 – Despite the additional expense to the airline industry, 85% of the 2,000 individuals polled in an Instant Poll sponsored by The Science Advisory Board recommend that the airlines take expensive precautionary measures to prevent the onboard spread of infectious diseases like SARS. Thirty-seven percent of respondents would like the airlines to replace the 50/50 mix of outside and recirculated air that flows throughout the cabin with air obtained completely from the outside of the aircraft. Another 35% of respondents believed that the aircraft surfaces, like the plastic armrests in the seats and the door handles to the lavatories, be sanitized between flights.    

"I believe that even more than the threat of terrorism, the emergence of such zoonoses as SARS and now monkeypox jeopardize the viability of the airline industry," observes Tamara Zemlo, Ph.D., MPH, Director of Scientific and Medical Communications for The Science Advisory Board. However, regardless of the hypothesis that proximity increases the chance of catching an infectious agent, only 12% of those polled thought that increasing the spacing between the seats would help prevent the spread of diseases. In such confined spaces as airplanes, scientists believe it is more important to ensure that typical routes of transmission: the air that people breathe and the surfaces that they touch are first safeguarded. That is because during a plane flight, everyone is breathing the same air and touching the same surfaces, and if an individual were sick, someone sitting 10 rows away would likely have the same chance of catching the disease as someone sitting right next to the infected individual.


ABOUT THE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD

The Science Advisory Board is an online panel of more than 15,200 scientists, physicians and other life science and medical professionals from 62 countries. By convening electronically, Science Advisory Board members participate in online studies to voice their opinions on issues that directly affect the evolution and development of the tools and techniques of their professions. The Science Advisory Board is currently conducting ongoing studies in other exciting areas of the life sciences. Scientists can contribute their own views on the tools and techniques of their field by participating at http://www.scienceboard.net. The Science Advisory Board was organized in 1997 by BioInformatics, LLC (http://www.gene2drug.com), a research and consulting firm located in Arlington, VA.

CONTACT:
Dr. Tamara Zemlo
Director, Scientific & Medical Communications
The Science Advisory Board
2111 Wilson Blvd, Suite 250
Arlington, VA 22201
703.778-3080 x 25 phone
t.zemlo@scienceboard.net
http://www.scienceboard.net





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