At this high-travel time of year, looking around the cabin at all the passengers coughing and sneezing, you might wonder how likely you are to contract an infectious disease from a fellow air traveler. Good news: You’re pretty well protected against dire disease, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times. It recalled how,….
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Fear-Mongering Rears Its Head in Hotel Room Germ Study
When the media glommed onto a news release issued by the American Society for Microbiology last month, America responded with a collective “ewwww.” The study tallied the location and number of germs in the average hotel room. Researchers from the University of Houston concluded that the items most heavily contaminated with bacteria were television remotes,….
Continue ReadingExtra Baggage—How Disease Is Transmitted on Airplanes
Most people who find air travel unpleasant object to the long lines, intrusive security, price gouging and cramped quarters. Thanks to so many people jammed into such a small space, what they also should be concerned about is sharing their fellow travelers’ germs. Conventional wisdom says that sitting an airplane with sick people puts you….
Continue ReadingIt’s OK With Delta Airlines If You Get the Flu
There’s ignorance, and then there’s dangerous, irresponsible, willful ignorance. In a series of posts, the website HealthNewsReview exposed the bone-headed actions of Delta Airlines in showing an onboard video sponsored by an anti-science organization minimizing the importance of flu shots. The video “urges viewers to become informed about influenza and how to stay well during….
Continue ReadingTripled Risk of Deep-Vein Thrombosis on Long Flights
If you’ve been on an airplane recently, and if your trip lasted for more than seven hours, you may remember that the flight attendants warned you at the beginning of the trip about the risk of getting deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and told you to do exercises with your calf muscles to keep this from….
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