There’s a certain logic in thinking that the air in a hospital is filthy, teeming with viruses, bacteria, and whatnot. The same goes for the airplanes. You’re hermetically sealed in a tube with dozens of other strangers, all breathing in the same recycled air. There’s bound to be some nastiness floating in the breathable molecules… right?
That isn’t so, according to a new study published in the journal Microbiome. Northwestern University Environmental microbiologist Erica Hartmann and her team collected facemasks worn by travelers and healthcare workers. They also snagged a few that were unworn for comparison, to give scientists a better idea of what gross stuff, and how much of it, makes its way to our faces.
“We realized that we could use face masks as a cheap, easy air-sampling device for personal exposures and general exposures,” said Hartmann in a released statement. Turns out, not much of it all, at least in hospitals and airplanes.
Turns Out Airplane and Hospital Air Is Way Cleaner Than You Think
After extracting DNA from the outside of the masks, researchers identified 407 microbial species. Sounds like a lot. Sounds like a festival of disease slamming into your face at all times. However, most of these were mundane skin bacteria. Potentially harmful germs were present only in trace amounts, with no evidence of active infection.
Airplane and hospital air also looked strangely similar, in that both environments are basically giant clouds of human skin microbes. No matter where you are, the microbes around you mostly come from the people near you, not the place itself.
Slightly more troubling was a grab bag of antibiotic resistance genes, reiterating something that we’ve been learning a lot in recent years: antibiotic resistance is worryingly widespread. The genes are obviously not dangerous on their own, but hint toward a larger, potentially more dangerous threat humanity may face down the line.
The study focused only on airborne exposure, so it doesn’t account for the filthy, disgusting paws on some of the cretins that walk into these places and touch everything. So they can account for what’s going on people’s hands, but as far as the air in hospitals and airplanes is concerned, take a big sigh of relief because it’s a lot less filthy than you think.
But maybe consider wearing a mask for safety purposes, just in case… especially if you’re vulnerable.
The post The Truth About Airplane and Hospital Air, According to Science appeared first on VICE.
