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NOROVIRUS CAN SPREAD ON PLANES TOO
NOROVIRUS CAN SPREAD ON PLANES TOO
The norovirus, best known for causing diarrhea and vomiting on board cruise ships, can cause problems on airplanes as well, researchers have found.
Dr. Daniel Fishbein and colleagues research concludes that despite a short duration, transmission of norovirus was likely occurred during a plane journey. This is now reported in Clinical Infectious Diseases, May 1, 2010.
There was an emergency diversion three hours after takeoff. An investigation was conducted to determine the cause of the outbreak, assess whether transmission occurred on the airplane, and describe risk factors for transmission.
In Chicago, the airline passengers not from the tour group boarded a different plane and continued their trip west, while the tour group remained in Chicago overnight. Several were hospitalized.
A subsequent investigation by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the New Hampshire Department of Health in Concord found 6 confirmed and 9 probable cases of norovirus infection among tour group members on the plane, as well as 1 confirmed and 6 probable cases of norovirus infection in the non-tour group airline passengers.
"The symptoms and timing of illness" (within 48 hours of the flight) among non-tour group passengers was consistent with norovirus transmission on the airplane, Dr. Daniel Fishbein, the CDC researcher who led the investigation, told Reuters Health. The same strain of norovirus was recovered from stool samples of both the tour group members and one of the ill non-tour group passengers.
Sitting in an aisle seat or near a tour group member were strong risk factors for becoming ill, which suggests to investigators that transmission occurred either directly through person-to-person contact or indirectly via contamination of armrests, tray tables, or seat controls.
This is the first time passenger-to-passenger transmission (of norovirus) has been documented on an airplane. The compact layout of bathroom facilities on aircraft hinder good hand-washing techniques that can prevent spread of norovirus and also pose problems for crew cleaning up after contamination from vomiting or diarrhea.
Fishbein and colleagues suggest that motion-sensing or foot-operated faucets, soap dispensers and drains in plane lavatories could reduce spread of disease.
Conclusion: norovirus, best known for causing diarrhea and vomiting on board cruise ships, can cause problems on airplanes as well.
Written by Dr Martin Harris, Doctor and Mohel for Jewish Circumcision Clinic in London Bris Mila Brit Milah.
www.circumcisionlondon.co.uk
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