In airports, frequent surface disinfection, use of masks, and antimicrobial surface coatings can help prevent the spread of norovirus, according to a new study by Nan Zhang of Beijing University of Technology in Beijing and colleagues. , published on December 5, 2024 outdoors. -access diary PLOS Computational Biology.
Norovirus is a highly contagious gastrointestinal virus that causes severe vomiting and diarrhea and is responsible for around 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 at airports.
To investigate the risk of norovirus infection through surfaces among passengers in different areas of the airport, researchers collected real contact data from 21.3 hours of video, which captured almost 26,000 touches. They developed a surface transmission model and simulated the risk of norovirus infection and the effectiveness of various interventions in different areas of the airport.
The touch data showed that, without any intervention, restaurants in airports had the highest risk of norovirus transmission, with approximately 4.6 of 51,494 travelers infected. Disinfecting public surfaces every two hours reduced the risk of norovirus infection per airport visit by 83.2%. In contrast, washing your hands every two hours reduced the risk by only 2.0%, and wearing masks 50% of the time reduced the risk by 48.0%, because masks prevent people from touching each other. the face Additionally, the use of antimicrobial coatings of copper or copper-nickel alloys for most public surfaces reduced the risk of infection by 15.9% to 99.2%.
The new study provides crucial information to develop infection prevention and control strategies specifically designed for norovirus in airport environments. The researchers note that since they collected data during the COVID-19 pandemic, surface contact behaviors may have been different than normal. But overall, the simulated results indicated that disinfecting public surfaces, wearing masks, and using antimicrobial surfaces are effective interventions to control the spread of norovirus through surfaces.
The authors add: “Regular surface infection is much more effective than routine handwashing in blocking norovirus transmission via the fomite route at airports.”