Page 10 - ATA

A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 22 March 2018
Want to avoid the flu while flying? Try a window seat

By MIKE STOBBE an aisle seat.
AP Medical Writer About 80 percent of peo-
NEW YORK (AP) — Worried ple sitting on the aisle
about catching a cold or moved at least once dur-
the flu on an airplane? Get ing their flights, compared
a window seat, and don't with 62 percent in middle
leave it until the flight is seats and 43 percent in
over. window seats.
That's what some experts —The 11 people sitting clos-
have been saying for years, est to a person with a cold
and it's perhaps the best or flu are at the highest risk.
advice coming out of a That included two people
new attempt to determine sitting to their left, the two
the risks of catching germs to their right, and people
on an airplane. in the row immediately in
It turns out there's been lit- front of them and those in
tle research on the risks of the row behind.
catching a cold or flu dur- A lot of frequent fliers will be
ing air travel. Some experts interested in the study's re-
believed that sitting in a sults, said Edward Pizzarello,
window seat would keep an investor in a Washing-
a passenger away from in- In this July 11, 2017, file photo, a United Airlines plane lands at San Francisco International Airport. ton-area venture-capital
fectious people who may Associated Press firm who also writes a travel
be on the aisle or moving blog . "It's absolutely a fear
around. Co. The Chicago-based jet But it's a novel study about trigued by the study's find- I hear from people all the
The new study, published manufacturer also recruit- a subject that hasn't been ings about how people time. They just believe that
Monday, came to the ed one of the research- well researched, they said. moved about the cabin they're going to get sick
same conclusion. ers, Georgia Tech's How- Studies have looked at how and came in contact with from going on an airplane,
For somebody who doesn't ard Weiss, and had input respiratory viruses spread each other. or they got sick from being
want to get sick, "get in in the writing of the results. in labs and in homes, but It found: on an airplane," he said.
that window seat and don't "But there was no particu- "this is the first time I've —About 38 percent of Pizzarello said he's an aisle
move," the study's lead re- lar pressure to change stuff seen it done for airplanes," passengers never left their person, because he doesn't
searcher, Vicki Stover Hertz- or orient it one way or the said Seema Lakdawala, a seat, 38 percent left once, want to feel trapped in the
berg of Emory University in other," Hertzberg said. University of Pittsburgh bi- 13 percent left twice, and window seat if he needs to
Atlanta. The article was released ologist who studies how flu 11 percent left more than get up. Will he now go for
The study was ambitious: by the Proceedings of the spreads. twice. the window?
Squads of researchers jet- National Academy of Sci- She and others not involved —Not surprisingly, a lot of Maybe, he said, if a sick
ted around the U.S. to test ences. in the research were in- the people getting up had person sits next to him.q
cabin surfaces and air for The researchers did some
viruses and to observe how mathematical modeling
people came into contact and computer simulations Researcher captures striking
with each other. to determine how likely
But it also had shortcom- people were to come close Antarctic video of minke whale
ings. In a total of 10 flights, to a hypothetical infectious
they observed only one passenger sitting in an aisle of one swimming underwa- problems. A researcher at
person coughing. And seat on the 14th row of a ter near Antarctica. Now the University of Canter-
though the experiment was single-aisle airplane. They In this Jan. 31, 2018, image she thinks they're beautiful. bury, Eisert said they were
done during a flu season concluded that on aver- supplied by Dr Regina Eisert Eisert said the whales look in Antarctica this year
five years ago, they didn't age, only one person on a of the University of Canterbury similar from the surface mainly to research orcas
find even one of 18 cold flight of about 150 passen- a minke whale floats to the but that she gained a new in the Ross Sea. But she
and flu viruses they tested gers would be infected. surface through the ice in Mc- appreciation for their indi- said their observations of
Murdo Sound, Antarctica.
for. Researchers who were not Associated Press viduality after seeing the minke whales could shed
It's possible that the re- involved said it would be markings on one up close. new light on their feeding
searchers were unlucky, in difficult to use the relatively By NICK PERRY She said her team got the patterns. "Baleen whales
that they were on planes small study to make any WELLINGTON, New Zea- underwater video by luck. are an important part of
that happened to not have general conclusions about land (AP) — Marine mam- They'd planned to film un- the ecosystem, but they're
sick people on them, Hertz- the risks of an airline pas- mal expert Dr. Regina Eisert derwater for two weeks grossly understudied," she
berg said. senger getting a cold or flu, thought minke whales were but managed to get just said. The conventional
The new study was initiat- let alone other diseases like a little boring until she cap- 90 minutes of footage be- thinking has been that min-
ed and funded by Boeing measles or tuberculosis. tured some striking footage fore running into technical ke whales mainly chase krill,
Eisert said. But she couldn't
see any krill where the
whales were swimming, so
she thinks they may have
been chasing small schools
of fish. She hopes they will
be able to find out more
about what the whales eat
after taking a tiny amount
of skin and blubber from
the minke whales using a
modified tranquilizer gun.q