I'm flying from Paris to JFK on Air France next month. I'm a litte concerned...

[CTyankee]

I like Air France and have had a good experience with it. I'm wondering how concerned I should be about not just ebola but also other viruses there might be in the cabin. I travel to Europe every year and always wash my hands several times on my long flights over and back. I've never had a problem but people I know have.

Wondering if international airlines are taking any special precautions...I've not heard that they are. But is it the usual protocols that they follow or are special precautions being taken now...

[Renew Deal]

1. There is nothing to worry about

There is constant risk, not just on airlines. You have made this trip before without issue and this trip should be no different. If you are concerned check the airlines website, call them, and check the state department travel advisories for France.

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/france.html

[CTyankee]

4. Several years ago I was on a tour of northern Italy and one of our tour members

got sick right in front of us and we picked up a milder case of what he had. A doctor on the trip said it was probably a virus he got on the plane over. There was nothing we could do but treat the symptoms. Ever since then I have taken Immodium with me just in case, but never needed it again.

[Renew Deal]

17. I've travelled to Europe, Mexico, and Canada several times and nothing happened.

Then one time I got a stomach virus while staying at home. Another time I got sick going to work.

[ProfessorGAC]

19. Got Sick One Time In Europe

Out of more than 40 trips. And that was just a cold that turned into bronchitis, which i'm prone to.

I seriously doubt it was anything other than standard cold weather stuff, and nothing to do with the plane or trains i was on.

[WinkyDink]

56. I've been sick at home and abroad!

[Agschmid]

2. I just flew to London for a week...

And although I thought about it, I took my normal precautions and I didn't even get a cold.

I understand your concern but you shouldn't change plans based off the current crisis.

[MineralMan]

3. Your normal precautions are fine. There's virtually no additional

risk. Enjoy your flight, as much as it's possible to enjoy any transoceanic flight. Jet lag will be your biggest problem, most likely. One patient with Ebola was on a plane. There's no reason for panic.

Besides, most planes from the affected country pass through Brussels, not Paris.

[CTyankee]

5. I always get a bad case of jet lag on the way back but not going over...go figure...

My last flight back from Italy was a super long trek involving hours of layovers and getting me back to CT in the middle of the night. This flight itinerary has more decent hours at least. Unfortunately, I have to fly to Paris from Marseille but at least it's a lot less time consuming than returning from the hill towns of Tuscany.

Thanks for the info re Brussels...

[uppityperson]

25. Have a great trip and I love this line of yours

"I have to fly to Paris from Marseille"

Oh, poor baby! Have a great time touring and seeing things, hope you have good weather.

[CTyankee]

28. I know, it does sound like a bit of a whine. I'm kinda in love with Paris...

[Dorian Gray]

65. It's always worse traveling west. More difficult teaching your body to go to bed early.

Safe flight. I envy you. Love Paris.

(And I think you have nothing to be concerned about re: Ebola. Catching the flu or a cold is more of a concern on flights.)

[rickford66]

6. You do breath recycled air.

To keep the cabin pressurized, only a percentage of the air is released through the outflow valve and there's a little leakage. The rest is returned to the ECS (environmental control system) where some bleed air from the engines is added and the process repeats. You breath anything that can be air borne.

[Bragi]

16. The ebola virus is NOT airborne

You do not face any consequential increased risk due to ebola when on an aircraft.

[rickford66]

55. Read his/her post again.

The poster wrote .. "I'm wondering how concerned I should be about not just ebola but also other viruses there might be in the cabin." Other viruses means other viruses. Some viruses are airborne. I was informing him/her that we are exposed to airborne viruses and many other pollutants while flying in a pressurized cabin.

[Tracer]

7. You might be more concerned with what you'll pick up in Paris.

I was there last October and caught the worst cold/bronchitis/flu that I've ever had in my life.

Probably from germs in the Metro.

Was sick for weeks.

[CTyankee]

8. I'm only in Paris for a day. Then I am catching a train to Dijon and getting on a river

ship. I used to worry about cruise ships but this travel company hasn't had any problems. The ship thing a while back made me wary for years but evidently, the industry has tightened its precautions as a result. But you never know what other passengers are bringing on board....

[closeupready]

14. Oh, that'll be fun - I worked on a river boat that went up the Saone -

so beautiful, and this time of year especially, part. if you are going through to Strasbourg?

Be careful, but have fun - it's a really nice part of France (maybe the nicest, in some ways).

[CTyankee]

22. No, not to Strasbourg, but here is a description of where we'll go

http://www.vantagetravel.com/ourjourneys/deluxe-river-journeys/2014/french-waterways-highlights-of-burgundy-beaujolais-provence/itinerary/paris%20to%20marseille

I've never been to the South of France so this will be an adventure. I usually travel for art but this will be just for relaxation and, I hope, a bit of pampering.

[uppityperson]

27. That looks like a great trip, so much to see, times to relax without driving.

Eat lots of good food

[closeupready]

29. Wow - a marvelous itinerary - been to Lyon and Marseilles -

Lyon is old/pretty but kind of boring (good food though), and Marseilles is my favorite Mediterranean city, and second favorite of France - if you sew or work with textiles, shop the market near the harbor - there are lots of textile merchants; you can make some pillows or curtains that remind you of your trip!

Have fun - I get why you have concerns, but you don't live twice - profit from actually living life a bit, rather than cloistering yourself away as you wait to get old and ... eek! ... die - from old age! So you see, it's true, "life - nobody gets out alive!"

[CTyankee]

31. I was considering adding extra time for Marseille because I'd like to go on a walking

tour of l'Estaque, a suburb, where Cezanne painted and Georges Braque later did the same. But I have no companion on this trip and it would be so much more fun with someone. Alas...

[JustAnotherGen]

38. Oh! I love Lyon

Try and make friends with a local who has a silk house. Cooool tunnels there.

[CTyankee]

42. hopefully our travel guide for Lyon will take us to one. I want to buy silk scarves for

my daughter and granddaughter for xmas...I also want to find a Laduree shop but may have to settle for the one in CDG waiting for my flight back. My daughter in law was crazy for the macarons but now that there is one in Manhattan it might be a waste of my time since she lives there. My neighbors would enjoy them...

[smirkymonkey]

57. Sounds lovely!

I loved Avingnon! I traveled the south of France by myself and then went up to Paris for a week (and Strasbourg). It was all beautiful. I hope you have a wonderful time!

[CTyankee]

60. Tell me why you went to Avignon...is it the bridge or just the history...

[smirkymonkey]

61. I was staying in Arles, and I went for a day trip.

I am a history buff, so I loved the fact that it was so ancient, but really I just loved walking around the town. There was something so charming about it.

[CTyankee]

67. thanks! I'm going to research this further...

[uppityperson]

26. ooooo oooooooooo oooooooooooo

I spent most of a week in Strabourg this summer, it is gorgeous. All those bridges, red sandstone, half timbered houses, that cathedral, forest in the distance, etc etc etc. I can imagine with the leaves turning now.

[closeupready]

30. Working on a river boat gave me a view of the country which really

was off-the-beaten-path, given that the Saone is not a footpath or highway, but a waterway, which is something most tourists don't do. Some of the infrastructure dates from the reign of Napoleon, and the villages have aged with lots of TLC. (Now, of course, that the secret is out, we've ruined that simple joy, lol.)

[Avalux]

9. Don't worry about Ebola. Get a flu shot before traveling. Other than that....

if you're still concerned, you can wear a respirator, like those listed here:

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topics/respirators/disp_part/n95list1.html

[CTyankee]

10. I went to Florence with a friend who wore one of those. It was a thingie around her

neck, not a mask. All it seemed to do was blow air toward her face and that didn't seem worth the $100 she said she paid for it.

[Divernan]

11. Travel with a particulate respirator mask.

You can wear it the entire flight, or have it handy for when a fellow passenger starts vomiting and you are quarantined within a contaminated plane for two hours. All this macho, strutting, faux bravado is fine and dandy for posters who will not themselves be on an international flight as this deadly disease continues to spread. I've been thinking about this since the fellow who flew into Texas from Africa and was found to have brought Ebola with him. And it's not just Ebola. The recirculated air in planes is an incubating situation for all kinds of bugs. My last 2 East Coast-West Coast trips have been followed by a 2 week and a three week illness - vicious colds/respiratory diseases which left me bedridden. I will not fly again without a mask.

Keep in mind what happened to all the passengers on a recent flight from Belgium to New York when a passenger repeatedly vomited in flight. Keep in mind that air in cabins is recirculated.

The Newark flight arrived at 12:15 p.m. New York time, and passengers were kept in their seats until 1:50 p.m. as the CDC and local emergency responders “evaluated the situation,” said Erica Dumas, a spokeswoman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, in a telephone interview.

Vomiting is one of the early symptoms associated with Ebola, along with a high temperature and body aches. The sick passenger was taken to University Hospital in Newark, Dumas said. There he was evaluated for several hours before health officials said his symptoms were not consistent with the virus.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-04/vomiting-man-removed-from-flight-in-newark-on-ebola-fear.html

http://www.clinicalcorrelations.org/?p=7698
Infection Transmission During Air Travel
May 7, 2014

It’s become a familiar site to travelers: airline passengers wearing respiratory masks to filter pathogens from the cabin air. To those not wearing masks, the fashion trend can be discomfiting. Are the mask-wearers paranoid or prudent? What is the probability of contracting an illness on an airplane? And how unique is the aircraft environment when it comes to disease transmission?

It is clear that due to lower air exchange rates and decreased sunlight, enclosed spaces such as buildings and transport vehicles are more susceptible to the transmission of infectious particles than are the outdoors.[1] Aircraft cabins are particularly worrisome due to high occupant densities and long exposure times. Well-documented outbreaks of tuberculosis, influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and norovirus are alleged to have occurred during air travel.[2][3][4][5] All of these diseases are transmitted via either large droplets or aerosolization.[6]

Large droplet transmission is a form of contact transmission in which contaminated large droplets (>5 units of measurement), generated when an infected person sneezes, coughs, or talks, are propelled short distances (<1m) and deposited on a susceptible host’s conjunctiva or mucosa. Aerosolization, or airborne transmission, occurs when residual large droplets evaporate to <5 units of measurement in size. These droplets are then dispersed widely and remain suspended in the air indefinitely. Other modes of disease transmission include common vehicle transmission (food- and water-spread illnesses) and vector-borne transmission (via insects). All of these forms of transmission can occur during air travel, but the large droplet and airborne mechanisms probably represent the greatest risk to passengers.[6]

[rustydog]

12. Were you worried about those viruses last year? The year before that? the year before that?

hygiene, hygiene, hygiene...

[Divernan]

15. Personal hygiene provides NO protection from coughs/sneezes of fellow passengers.

Not to mention germs left on seats, trays, armrests by previous occupants. Check out how far and how fast droplets from a sneeze travel via a video from MIT
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/275309.php

It is common knowledge that when we cough or sneeze, we should cover our mouth and nose with a tissue to prevent germs from becoming airborne. Now, new research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggests this instruction is more important than ever; they found that droplets from coughs or sneezes can travel up to 200 times farther than previously thought.

According to the research team, including John Bush, professor of applied mathematics at MIT, the droplets that are produced when we cough or sneeze are accompanied by "gas clouds" that enable the droplets to travel greater distances.

The study has recently been published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

To reach their findings, the researchers used a combination of high-speed imaging of coughs and sneezes, laboratory simulations and mathematical modeling. This allowed them to analyze the fluid mechanisms behind coughs and sneezes.

[kestrel91316]

33. Personal hygiene works wonders for preventing fomite-based transmission of things like colds and flu

Obviously not for aerosols, but aerosols are only PART of the problem.

It's the fomites, people.

[Liberal_in_LA]

41. yep. guy on my flight had massive cold. he hacked the entire flight. nothing i could really do to

Avoid it. Came back sick

[CTyankee]

23. Yes. I was. I washed my hands a lot.

Even at home I wash my hands when I return to the house from doing errands. And always before cooking or eating.

[TBF]

13. You can get those small boxes of sanitizer

that attach to your bag (they have clips - moms buy them for their purse or diaper bag). You can find them at Target or similar stores.

I think it would pass through security since it's gel rather than a liquid, and if it's hanging from a bag security can easily see it.

Washing hands and sanitizing are a really good barrier against many diseases - especially flu, common cold etc.

I don't blame you for worrying - I am immune compromised (due to meds I take for a chronic condition) and I am reading everything I can about Ebola.

[tammywammy]

18. It would need to be in the carry on 1-quart bag.

The 3oz restrictions are on gels and liquids.

[TBF]

20. Thanks - those tiny bottles would work I think

and clip it back on the bag when you're off the plane so you remember to use it.

[kestrel91316]

21. Why would you be worried? There is no Ebola in France.

Just pretend that you want to avoid catching flu or norovirus from any other passengers. Wash your hands or use sanitizer (not obsessively), don't touch anybody else's bodily fluids or dried goo, and enjoy the trip.

[CTyankee]

24. My concern was a passenger who had been in west Africa and might be traveling to

the U.S. via JFK. There is a story in the news now about a doctor working with Dr. Nancy Snyderman who has Ebola. I know that some of the students I tutor in English are from francophone African countries and often go to Paris. I'm guessing that they have dual citizenship with France (but perhaps not...I'll have to ask next time I tutor).

[kestrel91316]

36. No one is contagious until they develop symptoms, typically fever comes first.

Don't go touching people who look sick. Use hand sanitizer occasionally, or wash hands. Don't touch your face if you have touched another person until you sanitize. And relax.

[KeepItReal]

32. You should be more concerned with Air France staying in business

They just had a pilot strike and the company is losing money.

[Marrah_G]

34. Honestly I wouldn't worry

If someone on the plane back had it, they would almost certainly not be very contagious yet. Just try to look at things logically and take a look at the CDC site for any precautions.

[Rhinodawg]

35. How long can you hold your breath ?.....i'm kidding you.

no big deal.

[JustAnotherGen]

37. I'll bookmark for later this week

My husband is flying back from Italy through Paris L'avion/British Airways on Wednesday. I can let you know later this week.

He has done three UNESCO related day trips while based there (Belgium, Northern France, Seville) and nothing special is going on within Europe on the Airlines.

[CTyankee]

39. thanks. that's good to know...I also just called the travel company and asked if they

had any special screenings, etc because of the Ebola scare. The agent said only from passengers going on one of their South African trips.

[bettyellen]

40. I'm going to East Africa, and friends are freaking out.

I'm not worried, it's a long way from the areas where this is happening.

[CTyankee]

43. business trip?

[bettyellen]

44. nope- the Serengeti for vacation! I am very excited, been wanting to go forever! I am trying to

arrange to have a fave former DUer to stay at my place and sit with my cats (Sweetpea and Patsy on FB) since they hate being alone.
Last year, and about 7 years ago- I had Swag (of Kudzu fame) and his wife stay with them. I'm trying to keep my pet sitters in the DU family. Progmom might stay with them this time!

[uppityperson]

46. Wow, have a great time, that sounds wonderful

[bettyellen]

49. thnk you uppity! I am VERY excited. Have not had a super adventuous vacaion in 4-5 years....

and Christmas is the only time my company really closes- they always follow me on email at other times.
So many places are super expensive over the holidays, but it is not high season there, so I said- why not!!

[CTyankee]

47. sounds very adventurous!

have a great trip!

[bettyellen]

50. thank CT! I am sooo looking forward to it.

[ksoze]

45. Be more concerned about the trip to the airport

Far greater chance on the road to the airport of injury or death.

[CTyankee]

48. I'm taking a limo that will pick me up at my house...they're very good and always on time...

[JI7]

51. if you are that worried i would be willing to take your place

[CTyankee]

52. got your passport?

[JI7]

53. i can get everything together in time for the trip

[CTyankee]

54. well, it's full...

I'm not surprised. They had some pretty good deals and I put one together which, while not cheap, got me to say "yes." Unfortunately for me, all my travel buddies have been to the South of France already...so I'll be going solo. I got a single cabin free of extra charge, which will be nice since I envision these ship cabins to be kinda small. However, our group will doubtless have a bunch of single ladies of a certain age, such as moi.

This is billed as a "culinary" trip so I'm happily imagining the good food on board and, of course, in the towns where we are stopping...

[HipChick]

58. You have as much chance as getting Ebola as having the plane crash...

I'd stay home and lock the doors, and seal the windows with duct tape

[CTyankee]

59. oh, geez, forgot the duct tape...

[Recursion]

62. Keep your windowshade open

Seriously. Nothing kills viruses quite as fast as UV, and the UV is quite intense at altitude.

[LeftyMom]

63. Perspective: most of the world would love to have your problems. Stop finding reasons to worry. nt

[CTyankee]

66. I do get a little fretful, I admit. This Ebola thing has gotten to me a little bit for sure...

I usually have a common sense perspective about the dangers of travel. But I love to travel and am trying to fulfill some old dreams of visiting places that I always wanted to see. I sure do feel grateful that I can. And it is something my mother always wanted me to do since she was in love with traveling herself (and we did some traveling together before she got too old)...it's a "bucket list" type of thing...

[Hekate]

64. Have a wonderful time, CT. Send us postcards, okay?

That said, by this time I am not so jaunty myself; but we can't just duct-tape ourselves inside the house, can we? Go forth and live your life.

[treestar]

68. There's an over the counter thing you can take

That is supposed to help avoid colds, etc. It's like a super compound of Vitamin C, etc. Airborne, I think it is called. My sister discovered this stuff. It is vile to take but it works. Also washing hands, sanitizer. You're where there are a lot of other people, so there are many germs around.

[CTyankee]

69. I think I took that once and it wasn't too bad. I'm seeing my doc in a couple of weeks so

I'll ask him. He is Rumanian and goes there often...