Global commercial passenger airlines and travel health information regarding infection control and the prevention of infectious disease: What's in a website?

Ramon Z Shaban, Cristina F Sotomayor-Castillo, Jeremy Malik, Cecilia Li

Open access · greenAbstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Travel medicine and infectious disease. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

9citing papers in PubMed

2.7field-weighted citation impact, top 10% of its field

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.

Correlation between notifiable infectious diseases and transportation passenger traffic from 2013 to 2019 in mainland China.BMC public health · 2024
Article
Monkeypox Outbreak 2022, from a Rare Disease to Global Health Emergence: Implications for Travellers.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2024
Review
Chikungunya: risks for travellers.Journal of travel medicine · 2023
Review
Antimicrobial Photodynamic Coatings Reduce the Microbial Burden on Environmental Surfaces in Public Transportation-A Field Study in Buses.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022
Article
Clinical factors to predict flare-up in patients with inflammatory bowel disease during international air travel: A prospective study.PloS one · 2022
Article
Domestic Saudi Arabian Travellers' Understanding about COVID-19 and Its Vaccination.Vaccines · 2021
Article
An Investigation of the General Population's Self-Reported Hand Hygiene Behaviour and Compliance in a Cross-European Setting.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021
Article
Cabin crew health and fitness-to-fly: Opportunities for re-evaluation amid COVID-19.Travel medicine and infectious disease
Article
Recently spreading human monkeypox virus infection and its transmission during COVID-19 pandemic period: A travelers' prospective.Travel medicine and infectious disease
Article

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Ramon Z ShabanThe University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Camperdown, NSW, 2050, Australia; The University of Sydney, Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Westmead, NSW, 2145, Australia; Department of Infection Prevention and Control, Division of Infectious Diseases and Sexual Health, Westmead Hospital and the Directorate of Nursing, Midwifery and Clinical Governance, Western Sydney Local Health District, Westmead, NSW, 2145, Australia. Electronic address: ramon.shaban@sydney.edu.au.

Cristina F Sotomayor-CastilloThe University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Camperdown, NSW, 2050, Australia; The University of Sydney, Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Westmead, NSW, 2145, Australia; Department of Infection Prevention and Control, Division of Infectious Diseases and Sexual Health, Westmead Hospital and the Directorate of Nursing, Midwifery and Clinical Governance, Western Sydney Local Health District, Westmead, NSW, 2145, Australia.

Jeremy MalikThe University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Camperdown, NSW, 2050, Australia.

Cecilia LiThe University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Camperdown, NSW, 2050, Australia; The University of Sydney, Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Westmead, NSW, 2145, Australia; Department of Infection Prevention and Control, Division of Infectious Diseases and Sexual Health, Westmead Hospital and the Directorate of Nursing, Midwifery and Clinical Governance, Western Sydney Local Health District, Westmead, NSW, 2145, Australia.

Westmead Hospital · AUSydney Local Health District · AUThe University of Sydney · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAir travel has never been easier, cheaper or faster, with large volumes of people travelling around the world. These factors increase the risk of the spread of infectious diseases by air travel. Little is known, however, about the extent to which airlines provide information to passengers on infection control and measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. This study examined the websites of the global commercial passenger airlines to see if they contained information about infection control and prevention of infectious diseases and appraised the clinical usefulness of that information.

methodA cross-sectional text-based analysis of the 73 airline websites from the six global commercial passenger airline conglomerates was performed to identify information about infection control and prevention of infectious between July and August 2019.

resultsOf the 73 airline websites, less than half (n = 35, 28.6%) contained information deemed useful for passengers. While there was a range of general health advice within the websites, there was limited information about infection control and preventing infectious diseases. A minority of websites contained information about vaccination status prior to travel, and to a lesser extent handwashing and hand hygiene, with very few including disease-specific advice or preventive measures.

conclusionsAirline websites are an underutilised source of information for infection control and the prevention of infectious diseases. Providing passengers with information on basic infection control and prevention measures may support the global efforts against the spread of infectious diseases.

Indexed as

CommunicationInternetAircraftAir TravelCommunicable Disease ControlCommunicable DiseasesHealth PromotionHumansInfection ControlInformation DisseminationAir travelInfection prevention and controlInfectious diseasesTravel medicineTravel-related illness

Identifiers

PMID31760126

DOI10.1016/j.tmaid.2019.101528

PMCPMC7110852

OpenAlexW2990755206

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.