The early considerations of diseases transmission were done by the Institute of Medicine in 1992 which concluded that new microorganisms cause serious infectious diseases. That report was followed by the one made in 2003 that corroborated the outcomes of the investigation conducted in 1992. It showed that a large number of infectious diseases can be rapidly transmitted while air traveling. The reason is that the conditions for infectious bacteria transmission are rather beneficial due to the quality of air in the airliner and the exotic infectious bacteria which passengers from hot continents can bring. That is why Felissa R. considers the problem of infectious diseases transmission in the airlines to be one of the primarily important issues for government and World Health organizations.
Mangili A. and Gendreau MA also devoted their research to the transmission of infectious diseases during commercial air travel. They considered that the austere respiratory syndrome outbreak that took place in 2002 demonstrated how important air travel is for the rapid distribution of newly emerged infections. The researchers also suppose that air travel can become a reason for pandemic diseases.
The problem of rapid transmission of infectious diseases in aircraft was also discussed by Stacey Knobler and Adel A. F. Mahmoud who considered it through the alembic of the process of globalization. According to them, the process of globalization promotes the faster diffusion of diseases within the international scope. Stacey Knober assumes that as the modern modes of transportation allow more people to travel around the world, that also opens airways to the transcontinental movement of infectious diseases (Stacey Knobler, Adel A. F. Mahmoud, 2006).
According to the National Research Council, there is a great possibility for infectious diseases to outbreak in the airliner cabin due to the usual aircraft operations, the sources of chemical contaminants in airliner cabins, and the toxicity of these contaminants. In the publication “The Airliner Cabin Environment and the Health of Passengers and Crew”, the authors report that the airliner cabin is the main source of an airliner, and cabin staff is responsible for the transmission of chemical contaminants across the airliner.
Donald Kaye reported on the impact of recycled air coming from the aircraft cabin that in March 12, 2002 which increases the possibility for passengers to pick up airborne diseases like tuberculosis. According to the report published in CID in March, 2002, some pilots reduced the flow of fresh air to the aircraft to save the fuel, so that the passengers faced the danger of breathing with dangerous engine fumes (Donald Kaye 2002). Thus, Kaye underlined that much danger for the transmission of some diseases can come from the cabin of pilots
In contrast to this, the research conducted by the World Health Organization showed that the quality of aircraft air cabin is carefully controlled. Special devices like ventilation clear the air in the cabin aircraft 20 – 30 times every hour (World Health Organization, 2007). According to it, the vast majority of diseases are transmitted by passengers ill with infectious diseases like influenza and tuberculosis. In terms of this, vaccination it was strongly recommended in order to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases in airliners.
Olsen and Chang along with a team of researchers from the Institute of Medicine, made an attempt to trace the possibility of catching an infectious disease in the airliner during the travel. They conducted an interview with passengers and crew members to find out whether any of them has symptoms of SARS-associated coronavirus at least 10 days after the travel. The results of the interview showed that SARS was laboratory confirmed in 16 people, 2 of them were diagnosed as probable SARS, 4 of them were reported to have it (Olsen SJ et al., 2003).
Thus, on the basis of the interview conducted, Olsen and the group of other researchers concluded that SARS can be caught even during the flight if a person has a symptomatic phase of the disease. Another important cause of SARS is the serologic substances that the human organism can react to.
As one of the most effective ways of infections transmissions are the virus of influenza and tubercle bacillus, much attention should be paid to the discussion of both viruses. The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy published an article about the cases of transmission of influenza viruses in the aircraft and the measures taken by the aircraft crew in order not to allow the flue-like symptomed passengers to infect others. According to the article posted by CIDRAP, “the flight crew noticed that several of the flight’s 272 passengers appeared ill.” (CIDRAP, 2007)
The crew reported about it to the CDC, however, as it turned out, the diseases did not presented any hazard to other passengers. Thus, CIDRAP emphasizes that the US government and health organizations are already taking measures in order to prevent the transmission of dangerous infectious diseases through the aircraft and among passengers.
In 2008, the World Health Organization published a book about the transmission of tubercular bacillus in the airplane in which the main concepts of tubercular diagnosing and prevention in the aircraft were presented. The main emphasis of the book is on the more progressive diffusion in airliners of diseases reported. The authors of the book regarded it to be primarily important to inform the potential passengers about the possibility of being infected with tuberculosis during the flight in the aircraft. The book was published soon after the research conducted on the number of potential TB patients was conducted. As research showed, about 2600 passengers were potentially infected with tuberculosis while having an air travel.
Much work by medical researchers was devoted the preventive aspects of travel medicine. Jeffrey R. Davis, in his work “Fundamentals of Aerospace Medicine”, divided the most significant infectious diseases that can be caught during the flight in the aircraft into several categories: the illnesses directly transmitted among passengers; food and waterborne illnesses; vector-borne illnesses; and intentionally released agents of bioterrorism (Jeffrey R. Davis, 2008). He underlined that the best methods of prevention require passengers’ awareness of the common sense measures as well immunization.
However, Mangili A. and Gendreau MA, for instance, consider air clearing in aircraft to be the concern not only of a particular health organization or government in particular but also of the international concern. Mangili A. asserts that if all the international health organizations will be involved into the process of solving the problem of infectious diseases transmission, the challenge will be possible to overcome.
References
CIDRAP. (2007). Passengers’ Flu-Like Symptoms Alarm Airline Crews. Web.
Felissa R. Lashley, Jerry D. Durham. (2007). Emerging Infectious Diseases: Trends and Issues. Springer Publishing Company.
Jeffrey R. Davis. (2008). Fundamentals of Aerospace Medicine. Infectious Diseases (432-433).Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Kaye, Donald (2002). Recycled Air Risks Passengers’ Health Report. Web.
Mangili M, Gendreau MA. (2005) Transmission of infectious diseases during commcrial air travel. Lancet.
National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Air Quality in Passenger Cabins of Commercial Aircraft, National Research Council (U. S.) (2002 )The Airliner Cabin Environment and the Health of Passengers and Crew. National Academies Press.
Olsen SJ et al. (2003). Transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome on aircraft. New England Journal of Medicine. 349:2416-2422.
Stacey Knobler, Adel A. F. Mahmoud, Stanley M. (2006). The Impact of Globalization on Infectious Disease Emergence and Control: Exploring the Consequences and Opportunities.
World Health Organization, (2007). International Travel and Health 2007: Situation as on 1 January. World Health Organization.
World Health Organization (2008). Tuberculosis and Air Travel: Guidelines for Prevention and Control.