World health experts target air travel

March 12, 2001

March 11, 2001

By The New York Times

As if chronic delays, rising fares and the looming threat of disruptive

labor disputes this spring and summer weren't enough, put-upon airline

travelers have been hearing more lately about another potential source of

dismay: the spread of infectious disease.

No one is saying airplanes are spreading plague and pestilence, or that the

days of grim Ellis Island-style health inspections could be returning. But

with more than 1.5 billion people traveling by air each year from every

corner of the earth, world health officials are increasingly concerned about

the ability of contagious diseases to hitch quick rides from continent to

continent. They are calling for better exchange of medical information among

international health and air industry officials, and more efficient ways to

respond to crises - such as requiring airlines to maintain better seating

lists so potentially exposed passengers can be notified months later when

cases arise.

Last week, airports from Japan to Western Europe asked travelers arriving

from Britain to wipe their feet on disinfectant-doused mats. The reason was

fear that the arriving passengers could literally track in the virus

responsible for foot-and-mouth disease, a highly contagious ailment that is

decimating sheep, cattle and pig populations on British farms.

Foot-and-mouth disease is just one of a growing number of infectious

illnesses, some in the form of new drug-resistant strains, that can be

transported on airplanes, which in some cases resemble flying petri dishes

for disease incubation.

``A communicable disease occurring in one country can the next day find

itself transmitted to another, anywhere in the world,'' the World Health

Organization said in a statement last week announcing the opening next month

of a medical center in Lyons, France, where international medical and public

health specialists will be trained to better monitor outbreaks of cholera,

yellow fever, meningitis, hepatitis, ebola and other diseases that can be

transmitted by air travelers.

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