Half of hand-carried luggage trays tested at the security check areas were found to have at least one respiratory virus detected. To test airport security trays, researchers tested swabs from the surfaces and collected samples weekly at three different points in time during peak flu season in 2015 and 2016 at one airport – Helsinki. Four out of the eight trays regularly contained traces of respiratory viruses like adenovirus and rhinovirus. You’d hope that all airports would clean security trays regularly, but who knows? There’s certainly no avoiding airport security trays if you plan to travel ever again, so your best bet for avoiding these almost inevitable germs is to wash your hands before and afterwards.

Source: Irish Examiner September 06, 2018 11:15 UTC