Airports Infection Prevention

A new study points out the importance of hands hygiene in airports

International and national air travelling has made the rapid spread of infectious diseases possible. Little information is available on the role of major traffic hubs, such as airports, in the transmission of respiratory infections, including a pandemic threat.

A new study, led by Niina Ikonen, Senior Specialist at Finnish Institute for Health and, investigated the presence of respiratory viruses in the passenger environment of a major airport in order to identify risk points and guide measures to minimize transmission.

Tested surfaces showed pathogen respiratory viral surface contamination at multiple sites associated with high touch rates and suggests a potential risk in airport sites. plastic security screening trays appeared to pose the highest potential risk, and handling these is almost inevitable for all embarking passengers.

Surprising findings

Their main findings were that respiratory virus contamination of frequently touched surfaces is not uncommon at airports; and that plastic security screening trays appear commonly contaminated. One reason for the surprising result was that the plastic trays are generally cleaned less frequently than toilets or handrails. In addition to observing common hygiene rules, such as not touching your face with unwashed hands, the scientists recommend adequate hand hygiene to reduce the risk of infection. It was also noted that particular attention should be paid to a thorough cleaning of the hands during each visit to the washroom. Additional opportunities for hand disinfection at strategic points within the airport can be considered to be a sensible measure to protect against infection.

Sources: Ikonen et al. Deposition of respiratory virus pathogens on frequently touched surfaces at airports BMC Infectious Diseases (2018);
https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-018-3150-5

To drastically reduce these contamination means, Wellsept has at Airports disposal hands disinfection stations, equipped with IT connected systems, to supervise and prevent the supply of hands disinfectant. Moreover, the Wellsept UV technology, may also “roughly” sterilize the plastic security screening trays during the normal day use. During the out-of-use, these areas may also be highly disinfected with H2O2 robots which are the highest confirmed means to totally free of pathogen agents.

High Disinfection Surfaces

Hands Disinfection Stations

UV High-Disinfection

Multimedia Hands Disinfection