Deposition of respiratory virus pathogens on frequently touched surfaces at airports

Ikonen, Niina; Savolainen-Kopra, Carita; Enstone, Joanne E.; Kulmala, Ilpo; Pasanen, Pertti; Salmela, Anniina; Salo, Satu; Nguyen-Van-Tam, Jonathan S.; Ruutu, Petri

When an emerging pandemic threat is identified, measures taken to reduce the risk of transmission in an airport, and similar hub environments, could include reducing the risk of indirect transmission, addressing passenger distancing in order to reduce transmission at close proximity (i.e. short range aerosol [43] and droplet transmission), for example in dense queues or at service counters and immigration procedures, enhancing promotion of hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, and possibly arriving traveler screening procedures. The possible airborne transmission risk can be reduced by ensuring adequate ventilation to dilute pathogen concentrations to sufficiently low levels [44] . Guidelines to mitigate transmission of communicable disease have been issued by Airports Council International [45] and International Civil Aviation Organization [46] , but they focus on (exit) screening and handling an individual suspected of having a communicable disease that poses a serious public health risk. A modelling study for entry screening indicated that even in the most optimistic scenarios, the majority of cases of emerging infections would be missed [47] . However, measures preventing transmission locally could be enhanced, for example by improving hand sanitization opportunities where intense, repeat touching of surfaces takes place such as immediately before and after security screening, by enhancing cleaning of frequently touched surfaces, by increased use of non-touch devices, or by effective barriers for face-to-face droplet contact at service counters. Many cleaning agents, household (antibacterial) wipes and anti-viral tissues are able to rapidly render influenza virus nonviable [48] , offering multiple simple possibilities and opportunities for reducing the risk of indirect contact transmission.