Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322;
School of Mathematics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30313.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Apr 3;115(14):3623-3627. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1711611115. Epub 2018 Mar 19.
With over 3 billion airline passengers annually, the inflight transmission of infectious diseases is an important global health concern. Over a dozen cases of inflight transmission of serious infections have been documented, and air travel can serve as a conduit for the rapid spread of newly emerging infections and pandemics. Despite sensational media stories and anecdotes, the risks of transmission of respiratory viruses in an airplane cabin are unknown. Movements of passengers and crew may facilitate disease transmission. On 10 transcontinental US flights, we chronicled behaviors and movements of individuals in the economy cabin on single-aisle aircraft. We simulated transmission during flight based on these data. Our results indicate there is low probability of direct transmission to passengers not seated in close proximity to an infectious passenger. This data-driven, dynamic network transmission model of droplet-mediated respiratory disease is unique. To measure the true pathogen burden, our team collected 229 environmental samples during the flights. Although eight flights were during Influenza season, all qPCR assays for 18 common respiratory viruses were negative.
每年有超过 30 亿人次的航空旅客，因此传染病在飞行途中的传播是一个重要的全球健康关注点。已有十几例严重传染病在飞行途中传播的记录，航空旅行可以成为新出现的感染和大流行迅速传播的渠道。尽管媒体有耸人听闻的报道和传闻，但飞机客舱内呼吸道病毒传播的风险尚不清楚。乘客和机组人员的移动可能会促进疾病的传播。在 10 次跨大陆的美国航班上，我们记录了单通道飞机经济舱中个人的行为和动作。我们根据这些数据模拟了飞行中的传播。我们的结果表明，直接传染给未坐在传染性乘客附近的乘客的可能性很低。这种基于数据的、飞沫介导的呼吸道疾病动态网络传播模型是独特的。为了测量真实的病原体负担，我们的团队在飞行过程中收集了 229 个环境样本。虽然有 8 个航班是在流感季节，但对 18 种常见呼吸道病毒的所有 qPCR 检测均为阴性。
