CC:0

Cleaning airport surfaces every 2 hours cuts norovirus infections by 83%

Embargoed until: Publicly released:

Peer-reviewedObservational studyPeopleWhat do these mean?

Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

Observational study: A study in which the subject is observed to see if there is a relationship between two or more things (eg: the consumption of diet drinks and obesity). Observational studies cannot prove that one thing causes another, only that they are linked.

People: This is a study based on research using people.

Sick of being sick every time you fly? Well, international researchers say that if the surfaces around airports were cleaned every two hours, the chance of us catching norovirus - a highly contagious gastrointestinal virus that causes severe vomiting and diarrhoea - would drop by 83%. To work this out, the team watched where people touched in an airport over a day, which included close to 26,000 touches. They then simulated the risk of infection across the airport, and say that restaurants had the highest risk of transmission, with close to 4.6 out of 51,494 travellers being infected. Disinfecting public surfaces every two hours reduced the risk of norovirus infection per visit to the airport by 83.2%, they say. In contrast, handwashing every two hours reduced the risk by only 2.0%, and mask-wearing 50% of the time reduced risk by 48.0%. Additionally, using antimicrobial copper or copper-nickel alloy coatings for most public surfaces lowered the infection risk by 15.9%-99.2%, they add.

Journal/conference: PLOS Computational Biology

Research: Paper

Organisation/s: Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China

Funder: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers: 52108067), and the grant was received by N.Z

Media release

From: PLOS

Cleaning surfaces every two hours cuts norovirus infections by 83% in airports

Study of people touching surfaces at airport finds restaurants have highest rates of transmission

At airports, frequently disinfecting surfaces, mask-wearing and antimicrobial surface coatings can all help prevent the spread of norovirus, according to a new study by Nan Zhang of the Beijing University of Technology in Beijing and colleagues, published December 5, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS Computational Biology.

Norovirus is a highly contagious gastrointestinal virus that causes severe vomiting and diarrhea, and is responsible for about 685 million cases and 200,000 deaths each year. The virus is primarily transmitted through surfaces and outbreaks during air travel are especially common, due to the large number of public surfaces in airports.

To investigate the risk of norovirus infection from surfaces among passengers in different zones of the airport, researchers collected real touch data from 21.3 hours of video, which captured almost 26,000 touches. They developed a model of surface transmission and simulated the risk of infection from norovirus and the effectiveness of various interventions in different airport areas.

The touch data showed that, without any interventions, restaurants at airports had the highest risk of norovirus transmission, with approximately 4.6 out of 51,494 travelers infected. Disinfecting public surfaces every two hours reduced the risk of norovirus infection per visit to the airport by 83.2%. In contrast, handwashing every two hours reduced the risk by only 2.0%, and mask-wearing 50% of the time reduced risk by 48.0%, because masks stop people from touching their face. Furthermore, using antimicrobial copper or copper-nickel alloy coatings for most public surfaces lowered the infection risk by 15.9%-99.2%.

The new study provides crucial insights for developing infection prevention and control strategies specifically tailored for norovirus within airport environments. The researchers note that since they collected their data during the COVID-19 pandemic, surface touching behaviors may have been different from normal. But overall, the simulated results indicated that public surface disinfection, mask wearing and the use of antimicrobial surfaces are effective interventions for controlling the spread of norovirus through surfaces.

The authors add: "Regular surface infection is much more effective than regular handwashing for blocking norovirus transmission via fomite route in airports."

News for:

International

Media contact details for this story are only visible to registered journalists.