An airport operations proposal for a pandemic-free air travel
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Alonso Tabares D
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7544451 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BackgroundPlanning for a possible influenza pandemic is an extremely high priority, as social and economic effects of an unmitigated pandemic would be devastating. Mathematical models can be used to explore different scenarios and provide insight into potential costs, benefits, and effectiveness of prevention and control strategies under consideration.Methods and findingsA stochastic, equation-based epidemic model is used to study global transmission of pandemic flu, including the effects of travel restrictions and vaccination. Economic costs of intervention are also considered. The distribution of First Passage Times (FPT) to the United States and the numbers of infected persons in metropolitan areas worldwide are studied assuming various times and locations of the initial outbreak. International air travel restrictions alone provide a small delay in FPT to the U.S. When other containment measures are applied at the source in conjunction with travel restrictions, delays could be much longer. If in addition, control measures are instituted worldwide, there is a significant reduction in cases worldwide and specifically in the U.S. However, if travel restrictions are not combined with other measures, local epidemic severity may increase, because restriction-induced delays can push local outbreaks into high epidemic season. The per annum cost to the U.S. economy of international and major domestic air passenger travel restrictions is minimal: on the order of 0.8% of Gross National Product.ConclusionsInternational air travel restrictions may provide a small but important delay in the spread of a pandemic, especially if other disease control measures are implemented during the afforded time. However, if other measures are not instituted, delays may worsen regional epidemics by pushing the outbreak into high epidemic season. This important interaction between policy and seasonality is only evident with a global-scale model. Since the benefit of travel restrictions can be substantial while their costs are minimal, dismissal of travel restrictions as an aid in dealing with a global pandemic seems premature.
| S-EPMC1855004 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Controlling the pandemic spread of newly emerging diseases requires rapid, targeted allocation of limited resources among nations. Critical, early control steps would be greatly enhanced if the key risk factors can be identified that accurately predict early disease spread immediately after emergence.Here, we examine the role of travel, trade, and national healthcare resources in predicting the emergence and initial spread of 2009 A/H1N1 influenza. We find that incorporating national healthcare resource data into our analyses allowed a much greater capacity to predict the international spread of this virus. In countries with lower healthcare resources, the reporting of 2009 A/H1N1 cases was significantly delayed, likely reflecting a lower capacity for testing and reporting, as well as other socio-political issues. We also report substantial international trade in live swine and poultry in the decade preceding the pandemic which may have contributed to the emergence and mixed genotype of this pandemic strain. However, the lack of knowledge of recent evolution of each H1N1 viral gene segment precludes the use of this approach to determine viral origins.We conclude that strategies to prevent pandemic influenza virus emergence and spread in the future should include: 1) enhanced surveillance for strains resulting from reassortment in traded livestock; 2) rapid deployment of control measures in the initial spreading phase to countries where travel data predict the pathogen will reach and to countries where lower healthcare resources will likely cause delays in reporting. Our results highlight the benefits, for all parties, when higher income countries provide additional healthcare resources for lower income countries, particularly those that have high air traffic volumes. In particular, international authorities should prioritize aid to those poorest countries where both the risk of emerging infectious diseases and air traffic volume is highest. This strategy will result in earlier detection of pathogens and a reduction in the impact of future pandemics.
| S-EPMC2939898 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Limited data are available on the effects of air travel in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH), despite their risk of physiologic compromise. We sought to quantify the incidence and severity of hypoxemia experienced by people with PH during commercial air travel.We recruited 34 participants for a prospective observational study during which cabin pressure, oxygen saturation (Sp O 2 ), heart rate, and symptoms were documented serially at multiple predefined time points throughout commercial flights. Oxygen desaturation was defined as SpO2, <85%.Median flight duration was 3.6 h (range, 1.0-7.3 h). Mean ± SD cabin pressure at cruising altitude was equivalent to the pressure 1,968 ± 371 m (6,456 ± 1,218 ft) above sea level (ASL)(maximum altitude 5 2,621 m [8,600 ft] ASL). Median change in Sp O 2 from sea level to cruising altitude was 2 4.9% (range, 2.0% to 2 15.8%). Nine subjects (26% [95% CI, 12%-38%]) experienced oxygen desaturation during flight (minimum Sp O 2 5 74%). Thirteen subjects (38%) reported symptoms during flight, of whom five also experienced desaturations. Oxygen desaturation was associated with cabin pressures equivalent to . 1,829 m (6,000 ft) ASL, ambulation, and flight duration(all P values , .05).Hypoxemia is common among people with PH traveling by air, occurring in one in four people studied. Hypoxemia was associated with lower cabin pressures, ambulation during flight, and longer flight duration. Patients with PH who will be traveling on flights of longer duration or who have a history of oxygen use, including nocturnal use only, should be evaluated for supplemental in-flight oxygen.
| S-EPMC3465107 | biostudies-other
Project description:Air travel has expanded at an unprecedented rate and continues to do so. Its effects have been seen on malaria in rates of imported cases, local outbreaks in non-endemic areas and the global spread of drug resistance. With elimination and global eradication back on the agenda, changing levels and compositions of imported malaria in malaria-free countries, and the threat of artemisinin resistance spreading from Southeast Asia, there is a need to better understand how the modern flow of air passengers connects each Plasmodium falciparum- and Plasmodium vivax-endemic region to the rest of the world.Recently constructed global P. falciparum and P.vivax malaria risk maps, along with data on flight schedules and modelled passenger flows across the air network, were combined to describe and quantify global malaria connectivity through air travel. Network analysis approaches were then utilized to describe and quantify the patterns that exist in passenger flows weighted by malaria prevalence. Finally, the connectivity within and to the Southeast Asia region where the threat of imported artemisinin resistance arising is highest, was examined to highlight risk routes for its spread.The analyses demonstrate the substantial connectivity that now exists between and from malaria-endemic regions through air travel. While the air network provides connections to previously isolated malarious regions, it is clear that great variations exist, with significant regional communities of airports connected by higher rates of flow standing out. The structures of these communities are often not geographically coherent, with historical, economic and cultural ties evident, and variations between P. falciparum and P. vivax clear. Moreover, results highlight how well connected the malaria-endemic areas of Africa are now to Southeast Asia, illustrating the many possible routes that artemisinin-resistant strains could take.The continuing growth in air travel is playing an important role in the global epidemiology of malaria, with the endemic world becoming increasingly connected to both malaria-free areas and other endemic regions. The research presented here provides an initial effort to quantify and analyse the connectivity that exists across the malaria-endemic world through air travel, and provide a basic assessment of the risks it results in for movement of infections.
| S-EPMC3766274 | biostudies-other
Project description:Rapid aviation commercialisation and upsurge in worldwide affluence created a new avenue for disease proliferation across countries at an unprecedented rate. Epidemic and pandemic occurrences over the last decade demonstrate airports' role in disease transmission; while also exhibiting their importance as containment nodes. Tremendous amount of resources and effort are necessary to achieve the latter but inevitably, disrupt normal operations. The contrasting objectives between public health authorities and airport authorities result in compromising measures for both parties. Broadly similar controlling measures were adopted by various airports during outbreaks in the last decade. Their effectiveness have been analysed in terms of disease control; economic impact to airports were, however, not quantified. This paper concludes that more efficient airport pandemic control plans cause less severe economic impact on airports during pandemic and recommends a streamlined approach that improves overall effect of pandemic control while minimising economic impacts to airport businesses.
| S-EPMC7148882 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background: This article presents findings from research conducted before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on companies located in the Zurich airport region of Switzerland, regarding the needs for global business travel and its impacts. Methods: The study involved a mixed methods approach. Five hypotheses were tested using inferential statistics on data obtained from pre-tested closed questions in a web-based survey. Deeper context was explored through an interview-based case-study conducted at a Swiss pharma company. Results: Supporting alternative hypothesis 3 (Ha(3)), a significant positive relationship was found between travel frequency and business growth, F(1, 100) = 11.31, p = 0.0011. Supporting Ha(4), corporate culture had a significant positive relationship with business travel frequency (F(1, 100) = 15.50, p = 0.0002) and average trip length (F(1, 100) = 6.39, p = 0.01). And thirdly supporting Ha(5), corporate social responsibility had a significant relationship with global business travel (91%). Ho(2) and Ho(3) were accepted. The case study found that smart corporate travel policies and regulations should be instantiated to enhance our environment, which would also benefit employee wellbeing. Travel can be reduced significantly despite being demonstrated that physical co-presence is important for building trust. The case study suggests tools to support the monitoring and management of global business travel by organizations. Conclusions: COVID-19 has impacted travel for business significantly, and future research will be necessary to assess its impact. The article explores the ongoing research in this area, and several relevant implications are proposed for future leaders. The case study found willingness to pay both corporate and individual green taxes, and a deficiency in corporate communication around the environment. Business travel is needed to build trust; however, it can be reduced.
| S-EPMC9860200 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposeCopenhagen Airport Cohort 1990-2012 presents a unique data source for studies of health effects of occupational exposure to air pollution (ultrafine particles) and manual baggage handling among airport employees. We describe the extent of information in the cohort and in the follow-up based on data linkage to the comprehensive Danish nationwide health registers. In the cohort, all information is linked to the personal identification number that also is used in Denmark Statistics demographic and socioeconomic databases and in the nationwide health registers.ParticipantsThe cohort covers 69?175 men in unskilled positions. The exposed cohort includes men in unskilled jobs employed at Copenhagen Airport in the period 1990-2012 either as baggage handlers or in other outdoor work. The reference cohort includes men in unskilled jobs working in the greater Copenhagen area.Findings to dateThe cohort includes environmental Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements in Copenhagen Airport, information on job function/task for each calendar year of employment between 1990 and 2012, exposure to air pollution at residence, average weight of baggage lifted per day and lifestyle. By linkage to registers, we retrieved socioeconomic and demographic data and data on healthcare contacts, drug subscriptions, incident cancer and mortality.Future plansThe size of the cohort and the completeness of the register-based follow-up allow a more accurate assessment of the possible health risks of occupational exposure to ultrafine particles and manual baggage handling at airports than in previous studies. We plan to follow the cohort for the incidence of ischaemic heart diseases, cerebrovascular disease, lung and bladder cancer, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and further for associations between heavy manual baggage handling and musculoskeletal disorders.Trial registrationnumber 2012-41-0199.
| S-EPMC5777468 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The experimental dataset (organized in a semicolon-separated text format) is composed by air quality records collected over a 1-year period (October 2022-October 2023) in an indoor travelers' transit area in the Brindisi airport, Italy. In detail, the dataset consists of three CSV files (ranging from 7M records to 11M records) resulting from the on-field data collection performed by three prototypical Internet of Things (IoT) sensing nodes, designed and implemented at the IoTLab of the University of Parma, Italy, featuring a Raspberry Pi 4 (as processing unit) which three low-cost commercial sensors (namely: Adafruit MiCS5524, Sensirion SCD30, Sensirion SPS30) are connected to. The sensors sample the air in the monitored static indoor environment every 2 s. Each collected record composing the experimental dataset contains (i) the identifier of the IoT node that sampled the air parameters; (ii) the presence of gases (as a unified value concentration); (iii) the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the travelers' transit area, together with air temperature and humidity; and (iv) the concentration of particulate matter (PM) in the indoor monitored environment - in terms of particles' mass concentration (µg/m3), number of particles (#/cm3), and typical particle size (µm) - for particles with a diameter up to 0.5 µm (PM0.5), 1 µm (PM1), 2.5 µm (PM2.5), 4 µm (PM4), and 10 µm (PM10). Therefore, on the basis of the monitored air parameters in the indoor travelers' transit area, the experimental dataset might be expedient for further analyses - e.g., for calculating Air Quality Indexes (AQIs) taking into account the collected information - and for comparison with information sampled in different contexts and scenarios - examples could be indoor domestic environments, as well as outdoor monitoring in smart cities or public transports.
| S-EPMC10700568 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Gut microbiota and Antimicrobial resistance alteration during international travel in Hong Kong traveler
| PRJEB36968 | ENA
Project description:On March 11, 2020, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) characterized the spread of the coronavirus disease, COVID-19, as a pandemic on the basis of "alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction." Hence, it is urgent and imperative to evaluate the risk of COVID-19 for as many global locations as possible. This study calculates the relative risk of the importation and exportation of the COVID-19 virus. The study's most important contribution is the calculation of the overall relative risk of the importation and exportation of COVID-19 from every airport in local municipalities around the world, based on global spatial and mapping information. Three scenarios of air travel restriction are considered, and the change in the risk of importation and exportation of COVID-19 is calculated. The relative risk of importation and exportation of COVID-19 clearly shows that not only China, Europe, Middle East, and East Asia, but also the U.S., Australia, and countries in northeast Asia and Latin America are subject to risk. Further, a larger reduction in air travel through airports in a large part of the cumulative incidence area would lead to a gradual decrease in the risk flow. Importantly, the exportation risk of the disease from some airports in China, Iran, and European countries has a higher global spread than the importation risk during the pandemic stage. Therefore, every airport, or government with airports in their jurisdiction, should implement strict countermeasures. It is also indispensable for these countries to undertake countermeasures for COVID-19, such as home quarantine within each country and restricting infected or suspected individuals from flying on airplanes.
| S-EPMC7328638 | biostudies-literature