Preparing Airports for Communicable Diseases on Arriving Flights

Airports play a major role in transporting people and products on a local and global level. They are where federal and local governments share the demanding task of managing and regulating airline operations. With such enormous responsibility placed on the hands of various government agencies, having challenges along the way is inevitable. This is why the Airport Cooperative Research Program ACRP was initiated to develop solutions to ensure the smooth operation of airports in different scenarios. ACRP research program becomes handy in finding solutions to the problems that airports may have been struggling with for an extended period.

National Cooperative Highway Research Program NCHRP and Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) are similar programs that formed the current ACRP because of their successful usage in the past. These programs partake in many different areas such as design, construction, safety, human resources, policy-making, administrative work, and maintenance.

ACRP was created in December 2003 through the Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act and is run by various government agencies some of which include; a nonpartisan board selected by the U.

S Department of Transportation, The American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), Airport Consultant Council (ACC), TRB as program manager and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

ACRP conducts monthly and annual research projects and results of which are demonstrated through webinars, workshops, field visits, and training aids. They are a great way to show airports insights into places where there is room for improvement.

Summary

Illness is part of everyday life. But in today’s global world, the highly contagious diseases can be spread in matters of seconds and minutes.

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In an environment like airports where hundreds and thousands of people are getting in contact with contaminated surfaces, viruses and bacteria can make spread around from one flight to another, and in a matter of days, an entire population of a city can become affected. That being said public health authorities, as well as airport operators, must have reactive and pro actives measures in place to avoid the spread of communicable diseases. This research studies the steps which airport operators and public health departments take to mitigate an outbreak from spreading.

Here is a list of the most common diseases that have been classified as a threat to global health. Ebola, influenza A virus, tuberculosis, and Zika. With the rapid expansion of air transportation, the number of transferable illnesses has also increased. Therefore it is even more significant today to fight for the prevention of global health illnesses.

According to the world health organization (WHO), the primary objective in preventing a global health threat is by containing the outbreak from its starting source. Therefore the result of this report project is of significance to the following parties; Airport authorities, Public health agencies, the local and federal government, and most importantly the general public.

This report includes six major case studies that are evidence for the survey result provided below:

• Case 1: Toronto Pearson International Airport and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (2003): SARS outbreak in Toronto, Canada resulted in the death of 800 people and caused the infection of approximately 8,000 Patients.
• Case 2: Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Tuberculosis (2013): Flight from Austin Texas to LA international airport when one passenger looked extremely sick. After further examination of the passenger, a contagious case of Tuberculosis was revealed and all passengers on board were advised to contact their physicians. This incident revealed how vulnerable air travel can be to transferable diseases.
• Case 3: Portland International Airport and Measles (2014): On March 31, 2014 health department of Oregon diagnosed a child that traveled from Vietnam to Portland airport with measles. The infant received it immediately and survived the illness but many other passengers on board the flight may have carried the virus and transferred them among others.
• Case 4: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Ebola (2014): On September 20, 2014, Mr. Thomas Eric Duncan carried the virus of Ebola to the United States. He had contracted the virus from his daughter-in-law as he transferred her to the hospital the night before. Even though Mr. Duncan may have not known about his contamination with the virus the symptoms did not become apparent until a day after his arrival.
• Case 5: Boston Logan International Airport and Five Suspected Ebola cases (2014): On October 13, 2014, Air Traffic Control at Boston International Airport was informed by the flight crew of a Boeing 777 with 15 passengers who were suffering from symptoms such as coughing, vomiting, and fever all which are signs of Ebola.
• Case 6: Vancouver International Airport and H7N9 (2015): On January 26, 2015, a Chinese alien residing in British Colombia was diagnosed with H7N9 after a trip back from China. Although she was extremely sick there was no concern about the transfer of the disease to the Canadian citizens since it is highly unlikely for this Virus to transmit from person to person and it’s more common from poultry to people.

Significance of the report to airport management

With growing air transport in the U.S and around the world has set of plans and procedures in place to fight possible outbreaks is highly important. Additionally, the aviation industry and public health departments must work together to ensure the safety of people and passengers both in the air and on the ground. Even though international airports are considerably more exposed to global health diseases, the precautionary guidelines can be and must be used in any sector.

Recommendation and implementations plans

The recommended methods for prevention and immediate response tactics provided in this essay are designed for the largest airports with flights arriving within the borders of America and Canada but they can be adopted for use in medium and small size commercial airports. It is quite obvious that the implementation of this plan is crucial for the public health safety of people of North America and those living worldwide. The lack of these set guidelines can result in an uncontrolled outbreak that could make the public panic and prevent essential contamination procedures to take place.

Some other areas in the study that were not identified and deserve further discussion include:

• Airport security issues that public health officers may face in case of an urgent outbreak
• Risks associated with the spread of disease inside an aircraft and possible controversies that may affect the general public.
• Best method to share and communicate responsibility in a public health crisis.
• The best method of communicating to the public about an outbreak without causing panic is through mass media.

Additional sources

According to a 2013 study, 6.3 billion passengers use air travel and with an estimated worldwide aircraft movement of 82 million annually, airports can be the perfect location for the transfer of infectious diseases. Due to such high demand and usage of airports many standards have been established to ensure the safety of passengers and airport employees. Some of these monitored facilities include; restaurants, restrooms, water fountains, in-flight meal providers, and sitting areas where disease may transfer through surfaces. As result airport operators are obligated to perform regularly scheduled inspections and oversee the use of sanitary substances. If contamination becomes apparent airport authorities are required to start that sanitation and disposal of any contaminated supplies or goods. Additionally, routine public health training and tests are conducted to prepare the employees for response to any potential public outbreak.

There is no doubt that the aviation industry has made our life much easier by cutting travel time from one point to another. But it is important to mention that this time saving comes with a price. According to NCBI.gov; “There is a strong link between air pollution and adverse climate and health effects globally. Among the various air pollutants, fine particulate matter (PM) less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) in aerodynamic diameter has been shown to have the largest health burden. PM2.5 is a complex mixture of several primary and secondary particle species. Primary species include organic carbon, black carbon, and trace elements; secondary species include sulfates, nitrates, and secondary organics that are derived from reactions of the primary species in the atmosphere. Each species contributes uniquely to climate change. Organic carbon, sulfate, and nitrate have atmospheric cooling effects whereas black carbon has warming effects”