Airport Swine Flu (H1N1) Detectors - Smoke and Mirrors

WHEN aviation officials chose Mexico City for a meeting to discuss their response to pandemic outbreaks, they could scarcely have predicted swine flu would intervene. "The irony was amazing," says Tony Evans of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada. "The meeting will probably go ahead in June unless we get another wave of H1N1."

Future pandemics will almost certainly be spread via air travel, with flights capable of carrying a pathogen across the world in hours. The UN's Convention on International Civil Aviation requires nations to "prevent the spread of communicable diseases by means of air navigation". That is easier said than done, given the confined space of modern aircraft and the use of re-cycled unscrubbed cabin air on all flights, as a fuel and cost saving measure.

CAPSCA - the Cooperative Arrangement for the Prevention of the Spread of Communicable diseases by Air travel.

CAPSCA aims to help airports in developing nations prepare for a pandemic, and its schemes are now getting off the ground in the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Africa. They will be expected to install US manufactured devices and follow the advice of their consultants.

Optimistically CAPSCA state; "When an aircraft arrives with a suspected disease case on board, CAPSCA will make sure you've thought about where you are going to park the plane, how you will deal with the luggage and how are you going to keep in touch with the passengers that haven't got any symptoms (when they boarded the plane)."

All this does is extend the time by which the other passengers and air crew are exposed to the virus and increase the likelihood of them contracting the disease, if they have not already done so on the flight.

Evans says. "You also have to work out which people on the plane are most likely to be infected (if not all) and whether they need prophylactic treatment or admission to hospital. How will you protect air crew and customs officers? Careful planning is crucial and CAPSCA will promote that", Evans explains.

Frankly, this is nothing but hype, rhetoric and grandstanding

Frankly, this is nothing but hype, rhetoric and grandstanding. People who gather in confined spaces and share the same breathing air for hours on end, will contract the disease. Air crew, airport staff and customs officers, will contract the disease.

Immunisation with Tamiflu and other so-called anti-viral inoculations, is less than effective and will not act as a 'barrier' for air crew and airport staff. The virus, by its nature, mutates regularly and the time taken to develop effective anti-viral drugs and put them into large scale production, is 4 - 6 months. The same time taken for the pandemic to burn itself out, without any human or pharmaceutical intervention. Again, it is the nature if viruses.

In the case of an increasing pandemic, effective anti-viral drugs will only be available on a priority basis. Those who decide the priority, will be the first to receive the drugs. The second priority will be given to the forces that will protect the decisions and decision makers. This is what is meant by 'careful planning'. Everyone else should prepare for a long wait.