Air Travel Mixes with Danger

Not only do passengers worry about the safety of the plane, but now they have the paranoia that another passenger could infect them with a deadly virus. In case you have not heard, planes are not entirely safe. With the plane crash in New York a couple of weeks ago, air safety has once again been questioned. Though the airplane industry has reassured the public that the actual aircraft was not at fault and that there was really nothing that the company could have done to protect its passengers better, the fear has spread.

However, the safety of the airplane is not just about the physical structure of the plane. The spread of disease is another factor that can easily endanger the other passengers and thus merits close attention. In 1994, a 32-year old woman traveled on four different planes while infected with Tuberculosis. During her trip, she endangered over 1042 passengers. Her timely death prevented punishment for this act.

Let’s just think for a moment. What would have happened if she had been alive long enough to endure possible punishment? Would she have gone about infecting others? We have no idea, but the fact remains: air travel is a serious matter.

In fact, “Domestic air travel in the United States increased by 62 percent from 1980 through 1993 — from 275 million to 445 million passengers per year. Air travel from foreign countries to the United States increased by 182 percent, from 12.6 million passenger arrivals during 1975 to 35.5 million in 1991. The projections of the World Health Organization for the worldwide tuberculosis epidemic include 90 million new cases during the present decade. Increased air travel, the presence of tuberculosis worldwide, and immigration to the United States from countries with high rates of tuberculosis increase the probability that passengers on commercial aircraft will be exposed to persons with tuberculosis.” These were the numbers in 1993, image the numbers today.

The story of the 32 year old woman is nothing new. In fact, “the CDC received unsolicited reports of another 30 airline passengers with tuberculosis, including 10 whose diagnosis was already known at the time of travel, who were on commercial flights from July through December 1994.”

Next time you think about traveling, think again.