Does any one know, or is there any information on how effective a mask is in preventing airborne contaminants from spreading in confined spaces?
Ta
Grant
Forums
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Grant - Name: Grant
- Who do you know with myeloma?: myself
- When were you/they diagnosed?: April 2014
- Age at diagnosis: 43
Re: Alaska Air incident & travel with multiple myeloma
Hi Grant,
The team here at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance believes a coughing person should wear one, but they do nothing to protect a healthy person from picking up germs. I have flown home for a long weekend in CA three times since I started treating in Seattle in September. All of those flights have been on Alaska. I ask to preload to disinfect my seating area, and they always graciously allow me. I use Clorox wipes and wipe down everything I might touch. On one flight there was a person seated next to me with a wet cough and the flight attendant arranged for me to change seats.
I have never gotten sick on a flight, and I have never had a normal blood count since I started here so many months ago.
Good luck to you!
Cindy
The team here at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance believes a coughing person should wear one, but they do nothing to protect a healthy person from picking up germs. I have flown home for a long weekend in CA three times since I started treating in Seattle in September. All of those flights have been on Alaska. I ask to preload to disinfect my seating area, and they always graciously allow me. I use Clorox wipes and wipe down everything I might touch. On one flight there was a person seated next to me with a wet cough and the flight attendant arranged for me to change seats.
I have never gotten sick on a flight, and I have never had a normal blood count since I started here so many months ago.
Good luck to you!
Cindy
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CindyBrown - Name: Cindy Brown
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Myself
- When were you/they diagnosed?: 4/26/14
- Age at diagnosis: 48
Re: Alaska Air incident & travel with multiple myeloma
Most masks list their properties on the label..ie. Limits of 400 microns and larger.
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Rneb
Re: Alaska Air incident & travel with multiple myeloma
Well, tip your hat to a young canadian !
From:
"Teen wins $75k for system to contain germs on plane," pantagraph.com, May 19, 2015.
When someone sneezes aboard an airplane, it can put most passengers in the path of germs.
High school student Raymond Wang found out no one was working on improving the air quality on planes, so he did.
His idea won him $75,000, led to a patent application and could make the air you breathe on airplanes less germy.
Wang, who is Canadian, won the world's largest high school science competition on Friday. He called it "literally the happiest day of my life."
His system, he said, would change the current airflow in which "you've got two large, turbulent swirls happening. You’re spreading disease across the rows and longitudinally.”
Can you say that more plainly? “When someone sneezes, there’s a mess everywhere.”
His system changes the airflow, would cost about $1,000 per plane and could be installed overnight.
From:
"Teen wins $75k for system to contain germs on plane," pantagraph.com, May 19, 2015.
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Rneb
Re: Alaska Air incident & travel with multiple myeloma
Thanks for posting the info about a young high school student winning the International Science Fair for his project on air circulation in the passenger compartment of airplanes, Rneb! It would be great if the air in planes was controlled better so that infections are not spread from passenger to passenger. Hope his idea pans out to better air quality. It is disappointing to come home from a trip with a cold or worse infection.
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Nancy Shamanna - Name: Nancy Shamanna
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Self and others too
- When were you/they diagnosed?: July 2009
Re: Alaska Air incident & travel with multiple myeloma
Alaska Airline in my opinion was dead wrong in this. However, to spare myself problems – i.e., airllines, police, cafes, etc. – I usually have a letter from my doctor that I used to get my handicap parking permit. It just states that I have multiple myeloma and have difficulty walking.
I am a retired (major) airlines mechanic – 40 years – and have a lot of knowledge on aircraft pressurization and air conditioning systems, as that was one of my areas of responsibility. I can tell you that the airlines in order to save fuel have closed up the pressurization to reduce bleed air off the engines, thus keeping the air on board longer (and saving fuel). In order to keep up air flow, they installed recirc fans to churn the air in the cabin. Some of the newer planes come with those already installed from the factory, and most of the older planes and a lot of the smaller newer planes DO NOT have HEPA filters as some uninformed people seem to think.
So, yes, you are breathing other people underarm and foot odors, bad breath, and any other things they happen to be emitting from many seats away, not just the person next to you. I have not flown in over 10 years even though I am eligible for very low cost air travel.
P.S. - Another little tidbit that might interest you is the fact that when you are at 30,000 feet (9100 m) the pressure inside the plane is at about 8.000 feet (2400 m). So, in essence, it is like you are standing on top of an 8,000 foot mountain [if you have breathing problems, take that into account]. The airline can board supply oxygen for you, but you better have a doctor's note and call in ahead. N. G.
I am a retired (major) airlines mechanic – 40 years – and have a lot of knowledge on aircraft pressurization and air conditioning systems, as that was one of my areas of responsibility. I can tell you that the airlines in order to save fuel have closed up the pressurization to reduce bleed air off the engines, thus keeping the air on board longer (and saving fuel). In order to keep up air flow, they installed recirc fans to churn the air in the cabin. Some of the newer planes come with those already installed from the factory, and most of the older planes and a lot of the smaller newer planes DO NOT have HEPA filters as some uninformed people seem to think.
So, yes, you are breathing other people underarm and foot odors, bad breath, and any other things they happen to be emitting from many seats away, not just the person next to you. I have not flown in over 10 years even though I am eligible for very low cost air travel.
P.S. - Another little tidbit that might interest you is the fact that when you are at 30,000 feet (9100 m) the pressure inside the plane is at about 8.000 feet (2400 m). So, in essence, it is like you are standing on top of an 8,000 foot mountain [if you have breathing problems, take that into account]. The airline can board supply oxygen for you, but you better have a doctor's note and call in ahead. N. G.
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Nipon Ginko - Name: Nipon Ginko
- Who do you know with myeloma?: ME
- When were you/they diagnosed?: 2004
- Age at diagnosis: 66
Re: Alaska Air incident & travel with multiple myeloma
I would like to see this young man's design in more depth as, If you look at my post above, I am extremely familiar with these systems. Have installed the recirc fans in DC-10's, done lots of trouble shooting on defective systems, even built a portable test box to trouble shoot the 737, 35 degree temp control valve, and find it hard to believe his system could be that cheap, quick to install, and functional (I've seen aircraft bolts that cost in the thousands).
The air condition ducting and control and priority systems are some what complex. Think I would be more likely to buy ocean front property in Arizona than buy this story, but if someone could come up with schematics and drawings of this young fellow's rendering, I would be more than happy to view them??
N.G.
P.S. - Just looked at a video on one site that showed what was to be the effect of Wang's invention. It looks to me like "IF" the aircraft had a good HEPA filter system, it might give you some localized protection, but they are still basically churning the same disease-laden air around the cabin. So you sitting in seat 1A still get to smell the feet of the troll sitting in seat 39F.
For some strange reason, the second time I tried to run the video, it was pulled by the owner?
The air condition ducting and control and priority systems are some what complex. Think I would be more likely to buy ocean front property in Arizona than buy this story, but if someone could come up with schematics and drawings of this young fellow's rendering, I would be more than happy to view them??
N.G.
P.S. - Just looked at a video on one site that showed what was to be the effect of Wang's invention. It looks to me like "IF" the aircraft had a good HEPA filter system, it might give you some localized protection, but they are still basically churning the same disease-laden air around the cabin. So you sitting in seat 1A still get to smell the feet of the troll sitting in seat 39F.
For some strange reason, the second time I tried to run the video, it was pulled by the owner?
When someone sneezes aboard an airplane, it can put most passengers in the path of germs.
High school student Raymond Wang found out no one was working on improving the air quality on planes, so he did.
His idea won him $75,000, led to a patent application and could make the air you breathe on airplanes less germy ...
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Nipon Ginko - Name: Nipon Ginko
- Who do you know with myeloma?: ME
- When were you/they diagnosed?: 2004
- Age at diagnosis: 66
Re: Alaska Air incident & travel with multiple myeloma
Going back to the question of do masks help prevent a healthy person from getting infection, I have been told a common hospital mask hardly filters anything out of the air. When I used to work in the nuclear industry, a common mask was almost a useless piece of gear for protecting from airborne radioactive contamination. There was test data on this. Much better filters and sealing were needed, so I do not see how a hospital mask is going to do much to filter very small viruses and even most bacteria. If the filter pore size was small enough to be effective, it would need to be a larger, more complicated mask to provide enough surface area to get enough air flow to breath.
But I have read another means of spreading infection is scratching or fidgeting with your infected hands around your nose and mouth, and for healthy people a mask, that covers the mouth and nose can help prevent infection from germs on your own hands. For someone already sick, they help arrest the spray from coughs and sneezing from spreading out as far as they would otherwise.
It is silly what happened on that Alaska Airlines flight, and I believe it was the individual act of an uninformed flight crew member and not an airline policy. Anyone traveling in Asia during a SARs epidemic would have seen many people in airports and passengers on planes wearing mask. It was pretty common.
But I have read another means of spreading infection is scratching or fidgeting with your infected hands around your nose and mouth, and for healthy people a mask, that covers the mouth and nose can help prevent infection from germs on your own hands. For someone already sick, they help arrest the spray from coughs and sneezing from spreading out as far as they would otherwise.
It is silly what happened on that Alaska Airlines flight, and I believe it was the individual act of an uninformed flight crew member and not an airline policy. Anyone traveling in Asia during a SARs epidemic would have seen many people in airports and passengers on planes wearing mask. It was pretty common.
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Eric Hofacket - Name: Eric H
- When were you/they diagnosed?: 01 April 2011
- Age at diagnosis: 44
18 posts
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