Airports a hotbed of germs and filth

[NM]

From news.com.au:

AIRPORTS are a hotbed of germs that cause travellers to fall ill with colds and flus - not planes as many people think - Australia's leading travel doctor has warned.

 

[samh004]

It’s basically about the toilet issue, where people don’t wash their hands and then touch everything.

Experts also frown on the new trend of using waterless, soapless hand sanitizing gel, saying it doesn't replace hand washing because it doesn't actually remove dirt from your hands and likely won't kill off tough viruses such as hepatitis A.

This was also interesting. I guess it makes sense, but everyone uses them now.

 

[UP4014]

Considering the volume of people, and peoples generally bad habits, not really a surprise.

 

[NM]

Clean(er) toilets is one of the major benefits of lounge access when travelling as far as I am concerned.

 

[harvyk]

Clean(er) toilets is one of the major benefits of lounge access when travelling as far as I am concerned.

I agree, even if I'm not planning on using the lounge, I'll always use the toilets in the lounges.

 

[samh004]

Clean(er) toilets is one of the major benefits of lounge access when travelling as far as I am concerned.

Several QP’s I’ve been in have had some big surprises in the toilet facilities…

 

[blueflamenco]

That is a really bad article. What do the last two paragraphs have to do with airports and germs?

I think you can go overboard worrying about germs. Yes, there are germs in public toilets. And most other surfaces. If you a healthy person and have good personal hygiene then I don't think theres all that much to be worried about. Right now anyway.

 

[Mal]

I think you can go overboard worrying about germs. Yes, there are germs in public toilets. And most other surfaces. If you a healthy person and have good personal hygiene then I don't think theres all that much to be worried about. Right now anyway.

I agree. It's important that your body learns to fight off various mild bacteria, rather than have them really affecting you when your immune system is shot.

 

[oz_mark]

It’s basically about the toilet issue, where people don’t wash their hands and then touch everything.

Not sure that toilets in airports are better or worse than public toilets in general, although I do rank airport toilets above railway station toilets!

 

[cove]

Trying to get out of a toilet without your hand touching a door handle or door bar is a really good fetish to introduce to your family.
Can you get your shoe up that high or can you wait for the door to open then use your forearm or shoulder or foot to get out?

 

[possumoz]

Trying to get out of a toilet without your hand touching a door handle or door bar is a really good fetish to introduce to your family.
Can you get your shoe up that high or can you wait for the door to open then use your forearm or shoulder or foot to get out?

or you could just use a hand towel to open the door and then drop it on the ground.
I can't understand why they don't put a bin just at the door to put your door opening towel in.

The state of the airport toilets in BNE was the original reason I joined the Golden Wings Club..way back when..after a particularly grotesque experience.

 

[cove]

An overseas business traveller taught me to not shake hands before seeing that soap exists in that suppliers toilet.That really got my bathroom fetish to a very high level.

 

[adrian]

or you could just use a hand towel to open the door and then drop it on the ground.
I can't understand why they don't put a bin just at the door to put your door opening towel in.

The state of the airport toilets in BNE was the original reason I joined the Golden Wings Club..way back when..after a particularly grotesque experience.

Or you could take the "door-opening towel" with you when you go through the door, and then put it in the nearest bin outside, rather than dropping it on the ground by the door. I hate seeing a pile of dirty towels by the door.

 

[trooper]

Hadn't you better keep that towel with you?

The folks who fail to wash their hands don't magically disappear once through THAT door...

They also touch the armrests of chairs... that book you just decided to buy.. and that change you just got from the purchase.... the elevator buttons, the escalator and stair handrails etc etc...

Aren't you equally worried about all those surfaces?

I'm with blueflamenco......

 

[Dee Thom]

My local Doc is more worried about the germs that are breathed in the main departure areas, and last month gave me flu,and swine flu shots as protection.
He considers the local Supermarket trolly to be the dirtiest item he knows of, way worse than a public toilet.

Cheers Dee

 

[rwatts]

My local Doc is more worried about the germs that are breathed in the main departure areas, and last month gave me flu,and swine flu shots as protection.

This year's trivalent seasonal flu vaccine includes the swine flu vaccine as one of the three so possibly not a lot of point giving both at once (although a couple of weeks apart could probably improve the H1N1 immunity).

He considers the local Supermarket trolly to be the dirtiest item he knows of, way worse than a public toilet.
Cheers Dee

I do tend to shudder when I see kids riding in supermarket trolleys but I try not to be too neurotic about germs. I've been immuno-suppressed for almost eleven years now but keep amazingly free of colds, flu and other illnesses. Conventional hand-washing and trying to avoid particulate streams from others' coughs and sneezes does it for me. Some people just go way too far and the children they pass their habits onto are never likely to build immunity to common germs.

Richard.

 

[munitalP]

I pretty much follow a couple or rules I set for myself when I first started travelling very frequently a long time ago...

1. If a person is hacking and coughing in the plane immediately behind me or adjacent to me, I try and move seats. If I can't move, I try and face away from them for the duration of the flight - this is where window seats are particularity handy.

2. I clean down surfaces that are going to touch my mouth, polish cutlery, wipe clean the tops of cans or bottles, always check glasses to be clean and take great care when getting juice at the QP that I push the lever with my finger to fill my glass rather than using my glass - how many QP members have you seen stand at the juice dispensers, knock back a glass then refill?

3. I never touch hand rails - stationary or moving unless I totally can't avoid it.

4. I always wash my hands after using the toilet, then paper towel the door to get out. I don't care about seeing paper towels piling up behind the door, I figure that the number of times I use the toilet at airports is so infrequent, and every time I do use the toilet, I see paper towels piling up behind the door, the problem is not mine that there is no waste paper basket there, its airport managements!

5. I avoid food stored in glass cabinets without a closed door on the back

6. I avoid purchasing food where the food is prepared by the same person who accepts your money!

7. With the advent of hand sanitiser, I carry a bottle with me all the time, and I use it before meals or any activity where my hands may come in contact with anything I am going to eat. I have also started wiping the tops of cans with a tissue with a smear of sanitiser on it - every time I do, there is gunk coming off the can brim! (I don't use plastic cups to drink from)

I have avoided (touch wood) a serious flu or cold for many years now and I hope these simple actions I take help in the process of avoiding them.

Or it could be the alcohol in my system doesn't allow them to survive

Mr!