There's nothing more discomforting than sitting alongside a sneezing, wheezing traveller in cramped quarters on an aircraft for hours on end and going by the results of a study released last month, those fears appear to be well founded.
The findings of a study by Auburn University, in Alabama, US, presented to the American Society for Microbiology, revealed that disease-causing bacteria can survive for up to a week inside plane cabins on surfaces such as seat pockets, tray tables, window shades and armrests.
Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria that causes skin disease, pneumonia and sepsis, lived the longest (168 hours).
Escherichia coli (E. coli), which can cause urinary tract infection, respiratory illness and diarrhoea, was found to survive for 96 hours.
The web is awash with studies that suggest that every square centimetre in a plane is a habitat for germs.
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