Airport security trays biggest carrier of germs: Study

Going through the airport can be a stressful experience for anyone, but new research has found it can even be taxing to your health, with these transit centers deemed cesspools for respiratory infection and security trays as the biggest offender.

Researchers in Finland swabbed the most frequently touched surfaces in a busy, Finnish airport during peak flu season and found that, while about 10 percent of surfaces carried contagious respiratory diseases, the plastic security screening trays had the highest concentration of the viruses.

“Our main findings identify that respiratory virus contamination of frequently touched surfaces is not uncommon at airports; and that plastic security screening trays appear commonly contaminated,” the authors wrote.

Their findings were published in the journal BMC infectious diseases last week.

The researchers collected swabs on 90 commonly touched surfaces in the airport and four air samples to test for numerous respiratory viruses.

The surfaces that tested positive for disease included a plastic dog toy in the children’s playground; the buttons of the payment terminal at the pharmacy; handrails of stairs; the passenger side of the desk and divider glass at passport control points; and of ,course, the hand-carried luggage trays at the security check area.

Areas that were disease-free included samples from armrest of chairs in the waiting area; handrails of an escalator; and toilets — including the upper surface of the toilet bowl lid, the button for flushing and the door lock.

Buttons from the elevator, handles for luggage trolleys and the touchscreen on the check-in machine were negative for carrying viral germs.

The authors suggest adding more hand-sanitizing stations at areas where people are repeatedly touching surfaces and germ concentration is likely to be highest and “enhancing cleaning of frequently touched surfaces.”