Research shows that cleaning surfaces every two hours reduces the number of norovirus infections at airports by 83%

At airports, frequent disinfecting of surfaces, wearing masks and antimicrobial surface coatings can all 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 it was published publicly. -access to diary PLOS Computational Biology.

Norovirus is a highly contagious gastrointestinal virus that causes severe vomiting and diarrhea and is responsible for approximately 685 million cases and 200,000 deaths annually. The virus is primarily transmitted via 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 from surfaces among passengers in different zones of the airport, researchers collected real-world touch data from 21.3 hours of video, capturing nearly 26,000 touches. They developed a model for surface transmission and simulated the risk of infection by norovirus and the effectiveness of different interventions in different airport areas.

The contact data showed that without any intervention, airport restaurants were at the highest risk of norovirus transmission: about 4.6 out of 51,494 infected travelers. Disinfecting public surfaces every two hours reduced the risk of norovirus infection per airport visit by 83.2%.

In contrast, washing hands every two hours reduced the risk by only 2.0%, and wearing a mask 50% of the time reduced the risk by 48.0%, because masks prevent people from touching their faces. Additionally, the use of antimicrobial copper or copper-nickel alloy coatings for most public surfaces reduced infection risk by 15.9%-99.2%.

The new study provides crucial insights for developing infection prevention and control strategies specifically tailored to norovirus in airport environments.

The researchers note that since they collected their data during the COVID-19 pandemic, superficial touching behavior 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 regular handwashing for blocking transmission of norovirus via the fomite route at airports.”