The Flight Of The Flu by Carl Hampton

Even though there have been computer simulations that suggest the link between the flu and traveling, there has never really been a study proving that until recently.

Airline travel is one of the easiest ways to catch and spread influenza – a contagious disease that effects your respiratory system. So the question then arises about flight restrictions and if they can control the pandemic – the spread of a disease over a large area. This study was published in PloS Medicine and it provides actual observations of this problem.

Researchers have compared the timing and the number of influenza deaths in 122 American cities with the volume of airline travel during each flu seasons throughout nine years (from 1996 to 2005). They found that changes in the rate of deaths every year are consistent with monthly airline travel. November shows a high increase in influenza infections and late February is when the death rate hits its peak. So the suggestion is that the Thanksgiving holiday travel can be the main factor in the speed of the spread of influenza.

The study proved that the fewer domestic airline passengers there are, the slower the flu moves across the country. This effect was especially present after the September 11 attacks, when a temporary flight ban was placed within the United States and airline travel was lower than in any other season from 1995 to 2005.

Is there really anything the airlines can do to help with this situation? The need for speed between flights limits the cleaning that can be done. Once on the airplane, we are dependent on the air conditioning working correctly and filtering all the gems it pulls in before it recycles the air again. The airlines are in the business of selling seats, so can we really ask them to start checking travelers for health problems.

For most of us, the need to get somewhere will outweigh the risk of catching the flu.