Originally Posted by
TWA Fan 1
The lavatory sink is potentially infected with pathogens from somebody's mouth...they got there through a cough which someone cupped in their hand and then used that hand to turn on the faucet.
You walk in next and touch that faucet a few minutes later.
In the case of pillows and blankets, first, I am skeptical of your assertion that people rest their mouths on these.
Have you seen someone using an airplane pillow on their mouth? When? During a failed mafia hit?
But let's assume you're right for argument's sake.
By the time you get on the plane and use that pillow and blanket the time period elapsed has been far longer and most pathogens will no longer be active by then.
And even if they are still active, using the principle you stated earlier, as long as the pillow and blankets don't touch one of your orifices and they're not touching broken skin, your likelihood of contamination is virtually nil.
Head lice, yes, but as I wrote in an earlier post, there is no reason why head lice wouldn't also be present on the seat back.
The greatest health hazard on a plane is the person sitting next to you. It's a very confined environment and if that person is very sick and constantly coughing a few inches from your face, your likelihood of contamination is high.
And there is essentially nothing you can about it.
Hand touches faucet, pathogen can't transmit through skin, wash hands, pathogen gone. No chance of infection.
Face touches pillow, pathogen can spread to mucous membrane including the outside corner of your eye, wash face, too late, you're sick. You can't wash pillow before using.
Remember, a lot of people rest the side of their face on pillows, not just the back of their head. Plus, unless you wash your hands after touching the pillow, you can easily transfer germs to your face. With AC turning around sometimes in 20 or 30 minutes, any pathogen could easily live long enough in a moist fabric medium. At least with an armrest or tray table, the surface is hard and mostly nonporous. Pathogens can't survive long in that environment.
I'm just saying, of all the things discussed so far, a pillow is by far the most likely to carry germs and is used in a way that is most likely to transmit them. It's not likely, and I don't know of any proven cases but I can tell you, there's no way in h*ll I would use a hotel pillow if I knew hadn't been changed. In fact, all this discussion kind of grosses me out about using hotel pillows at all since they only change the cover...yech!
I guess you just do what you can and try not to go too overboard. All this talk is making me a hypochondriac.