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2014-06-14 21:56:45
EMBARGOED UNTIL: Tuesday, May 20, 2014, 9:30 a.m. EDT
(Poster Session 196, Paper 2287)
Kiril Vaglenov
Auburn University
Auburn, AL, United States
Phone: 334 844 4484
vagleka@auburn.edu
Current trends in tourism and trade allow millions of passengers to fly
affordably both domestically and internationally, often over vast distances in
a short amount of time. Many air travelers are concerned about the risks of
catching a disease from other passengers given the long time spent in crowded
air cabins. Our research team of microbiologists and engineers at Auburn
University addresses that concern. This report describes the results of our
first step in investigating this potential problem. The project was partially
funded by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Aerospace
Medicine through the National Air Transportation Center of Excellence for
Research in the Intermodal Transport Environment (RITE), Cooperative Agreement
10-C-RITE-AU. Although the FAA has sponsored this project, it neither endorses
nor rejects the findings of this research.
We obtained six different types of material from a major airline carrier:
armrest, plastic tray table, metal toilet button, window shade, seat pocket
cloth, and leather. These surfaces are exposed to frequent contact with
passengers hands and body fluids during flight. In order for disease-causing
bacteria to be transmitted from a cabin surface to a person, it must survive
the environmental conditions in the airplane. Two major disease-causing
bacteria were tested for survival and transmission times from these surfaces in
the presence of simulated human saliva and sweat. We included a molecular test
for bacterial cells that were not culturable. The bacteria used in the study,
Escherichia coli O157:H7 and methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA), are well known pathogens. Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a type of E. coli
that usually causes diarrhea in adults, but can cause other maladies such as
Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, which can be fatal in children less than five years
old. The MRSA bacterium is also well known since it continues to spread and is
resistant to almost all drugs. It can cause serious ailments ranging from wound
infections, skin diseases, pneumonia, and sepsis. Our data show that both of
these bacteria can survive for days on the selected types of surfaces
independent of the type of simulated body fluid present, and those pose a risk
of transmission via skin contact.
Currently, we have ongoing trials on the survival and transmission of other
human pathogenic bacteria such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This bacterium
causes tuberculosis and can be highly resistant to a wide variety of available
antibiotics. Our future plans include the exploration of effective cleaning and
disinfection strategies, as well as testing surfaces that have natural
antimicrobial properties to determine whether these surfaces help reduce the
persistence of disease-causing bacteria in the passenger aircraft cabin.