Here’s whose germs can infect you on a plane

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A new study assesses rates and routes of possible infectious disease transmission during flights.

An infectious passenger with influenza or other droplet-transmitted respiratory infection will most likely not transmit infection to passengers seated farther away than two seats laterally and one row in front or back on an aircraft, the new research indicates.

Vicki Hertzberg, professor at Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and Howard Weiss, professor in the School of Mathematics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, led tracking efforts in their FlyHealthy study, developing a model that combines estimated infectivity and patterns of contact among aircraft passengers and crew members to determine likelihood of infection.

observation chart
This chart shows the number of passenger contacts by row, for aisle, middle, and window seats for a flight studied by the researchers. (Credit: Georgia Tech.)


“Respiratory diseases are often spread within populations through close contact,” explains Hertzberg. “We wanted to determine the number and duration of social contacts between passengers and crew, but we could not use our regular tracking technology on an aircraft. With our trained observers, we were able to observe where and when contacts occurred on flights. This allows us to model how direct transmission might occur.”


The researchers also point to fomite transmission—exposure to viruses that remain on certain surfaces such as tray tables, seat belts, and lavatory handles—as additional likely contributors to disease transmission. They provide public health recommendations to help prevent the spread of infectious disease.

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“We found that direct disease transmission outside of the one-meter area of an infected passenger is unlikely,” explains Weiss. Respiratory infections can also be transmitted indirectly through contact with an infected surface. This could happen if a sick passenger coughs into their hand, and later touches a lavatory surface or overhead bin handle.


The study only evaluated the potential spread of infectious agents on an aircraft. Transmission could also occur at other points in a passenger’s journey, underscoring the need to maintain healthy habits, Weiss adds.

Complete findings of the study appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Funding for the research came from Boeing.

Source: Georgia Tech