A DISEASE expert has told passengers what they should be doing every time they fly to give themselves the best chance of avoiding illness.
Plane cabins are absolutely full to the brim with germs and gross substances from other people that it can be difficult to avoid.
However, there are ways in which those in the seats can increase their chances of dodging the dirt, simply by bringing a £1 item on board the plane with them.
Kari Debbink, an associate scientist and virologist with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, explained how people get sick on planes, even if it's been cleaned well by staff.
She told the Washington Post: “If someone does a good job of cleaning up, [germs] could still be on a surface around you. You could touch it, eat a sandwich and not even realise that you were in contact with it."
Her recommendation is to bring alcohol-based sanitisers with them on their flights to make kill as many germs as possible.
Read More on Planes
We were on diarrhoea flight from hell – they had to rip up the whole carpet
Sorry passengers but new flight attendants aren’t all here for the right reason
However, she warned that might not even be enough.
She added: “They may work against some pathogens, but they may not work against all of them."
One of the main illnesses people encounter on flights is travel sickness, especially if there's bad turbulence, but luckily, Debbink said that people aren't likely to fall unwell after being near someone vomiting.
She continued: "There’s really not that much of an actual disease transmission concern, but it’s gross.”
Most read in News Travel
CAVE INN
‘Out of this world’ cave pub on the beach – made by a smuggler with dynamite
CLEAN AIR
Passengers need to clean the plane for us now – we don’t have time anymore
GROUNDED
Thousands of Brits have flights cancelled due to yet another ATC issue
STAR TURN
Retro seaside theme park from hit BBC show with UK’s tallest ride & its own beach
The wipes she recommended can be found on Amazon for £1 – with a quick wipe down of a seating area on a plane potentially the difference between falling ill and arriving safely.
Kari isn't the only person to recommend that passengers bring their own cleaning products on board with them either.
Flight attendants are now telling people that helping them do the spring cleaning goes a long way as soon as they get to their seats.
Sun Online Travel's resident cabin crew member is one of those people – they said: "There are people with wildly differing views on what is and what isn't hygienic flying on our planes and I've seen some things that would really disgust most of you.
"Things like nappy changing on tray tables to clipping toenails in the and pretty much everything in between.
"Passengers need to be a bit cleaner when flying than they are at home – that should be the rule for everyone.
"Just having a quick wipe before you sit down will give you peace of mind – not doing it could give you a little piece of turd. I know which I'd prefer."
Meanwhile, these are the dirtiest parts of the plane.
And this is why you should never lean on a plane window.
Source: Read Full Article