Re-Circulated Air, Colds Studied

July 24, 2002

Tue Jul 23, 4:38 PM ET

By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer

CHICAGO (AP) - Passengers who fly aboard planes that re-circulate cabin air

are no more likely to catch colds than travelers on aircraft that pump in

fresh air, a study suggests.

Still, all of the air travelers in the study got a lot of colds -

significantly more than would be expected in non-fliers.

Health experts have long suspected that re-circulated air carries more germs

and causes more colds.

Researchers called the latest findings encouraging, because planes that pump

in fresh air are being phased out in favor of less costly, more

fuel-efficient models with ventilation systems that re-circulate air.

" Re-circulation of cabin air did not emerge as a risk factor for the

development of upper respiratory-tract infection symptoms in our study, " Dr.

Nutik Zitter of the University of California at San Francisco and

colleagues wrote.

The study, published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical

Association ( news - web sites), involved questionnaires given to 1,100

passengers leaving the San Francisco area and traveling to Denver between

January and April 1999.

A week after their flights, 21 percent of the fresh-air passengers and 19

percent of the re-circulated-air passengers reported having a cold. The

researchers said the incidence of colds in non-travelers is about 3 percent.

Researchers said the high number of colds among passengers in both groups

could result from factors unrelated to cabin air, such as stress, sleep loss

and poor eating habits sometimes associated with travel.

Judith Murawski, an industrial hygienist for the Association of Flight

Attendants, said the rate of colds in air travelers seemed high and could

suggest that cabin air in general is poor.

Many airlines use ventilation systems with filters designed to remove

viruses and bacteria from re-circulated air, but not all do, she said.

She also said there is no minimum standard for how much outside air is

brought into airplane cabins. Her union, which represents 50,000 flight

attendants at 26 airlines, opposes a move in the industry to set a standard

significantly lower than that recommended for office workers.

___

On the Net:

Association of Flight Attendants: http://www.afanet.org

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