Airports Actually Contain A Lot More Germs Than You Might Think

The study, which looked at the threat of respiratory infections in passenger environments, found that “international and national travelling has made the rapid spread of infectious diseases possible”.

Half of the hand-carried luggage trays tested at the security check areas were found to have at least one respiratory virus detected.

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The passenger side of the divider glass at passport control points was found to be pretty bad germ-wise too.

The most common viruses detected at airports in the study were:

• rhinovirus (usually the cause of colds),
• coronavirus (which can affect your sinuses and throat),
• adenovirus (which accounts for some fever-related illnesses)
• influenza (aka the flu).

Unsurprisingly, multiple contaminated places had “high touch rates”.

Four out of the eight trays regularly contained traces of respiratory viruses like adenovirus and rhinovirus.

Security check trays appear to pose the highest potential risk and are used by virtually all embarking passengers.

There’s certainly no avoiding airport security trays if you plan to travel ever again, so your best bet for avoiding these almost inevitable germs is to wash your hands before and afterwards.