Airport Security Trays Contain More Germs Than Toilets: Study

More than half of the trays had traces of viruses while none were found on the toilet seats, as per the study.

More than half of the trays had traces of viruses while none were found on the toilet seats.

(Photo: iStockphoto)

You avoid touching toilet seats and stay away from garbage cans. Why? Because you have been warned that these places are loaded with germs and obviously you don’t want to fall sick!

But what if we told you that the plastic trays at the airport security (where you deposit your bags, shoes, coats, mobiles etc.) have colonies of germs on them?

A recent study by the scientists from the University of Nottingham in England and the Finnish National Institute for Health, found that the airport security trays are loaded with a variety of microbes, including the ones that normally cause the common cold.

The researchers took swabs from surfaces at the Helsinki Airport in Finland which were touched frequently in the winter of 2016 and discovered signs of rhinovirus (that causes the common cold) and influenza A virus.

The researchers found that more than half of the trays had traces of these viruses while none were found on the toilet seats.

The study was published in the journal BMC Infectious Diseases.

While the results did not prove that these microbes could actually cause diseases, the researchers believe that these findings could help policy makers come up with better public health strategies to curb the spread of infectious diseases throughout the world.

This study is part of a larger project, funded by the European Union, called Pandhub, on curbing the spread of “high-threat pathogens through public transportation”.

As per a report in The New York Times, Finavia, the company that oversees operations at the Helsinki Airport, said:

At Finavia airports, the hygiene protocols are carried in accordance to health officials’ requirements - all surfaces are cleaned daily and all security check point trays, etc., are washed regularly.

Many dirty surfaces that we touch on a daily basis like money, tv remotes, cell phones, soap dispensers, keys, door handles etc are also germ bombs.

Maybe a germ-free zone is absurd? What do you think?

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