How To Avoid Getting Sick On a Flight

[Elizabeth Hansen]

This post is courtesy of guest blogger Marybeth Bond, National Geographic Author and Founder of the popular website Gutsy Traveler.

If you’ve flown with me, you know I’m a germ freak. I wear an air purifier around my neck for ion technology clean air, and use a tissue to touch anything in the bathroom.

Charles P. Gerba, a professor of environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona, swabbed airplane bathrooms and tray tables on eight flights to see what bugs might be lurking onboard. Four out of six tray tables tested positive for the superbug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and norovirus, the highly contagious group of viruses that can cause a miserable one- or two-day bout of vomiting, diarrhea and cramping, was found on one tray. Most of the bathrooms he swabbed had E. coli bacteria. Thirty percent of sinks, flush handles and faucet handles had E. coli, as did 20 percent of toilet seats.

An article that included Gerba's research ran in the New York Times Travel Section, March 2, 2011. In case you missed it, here's the link: http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/travel/06prac-germs.html

Bottom line: don’t put your head down on the food tray to sleep, or put your bread or snack directly on the tray. Use hand sanitizers often and wipe down the TV remote in your hotel room.