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Thursday, November 25, 2010

Doctors Sound TSA Germ Alert

Syphilis, lice, gonorrhea, ringworm, chlamydia, staph, strep, noro and papilloma viruses all are part of the possible fringe benefits when airline passengers next go through a full hands-on pat-down by agents of the federal government's Transportation Security Administration, according to doctors.

WND reported two days ago on alarmed passengers who noted that TSA agents doing the pat-downs that have been described by critics as molestation since they include touching private body parts were not changing gloves between passengers. In fact, some apparently were patting down dozens of passengers or more wearing the same gloves.

But neither the TSA nor federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control was willing to comment on the possibilities that infections and other loathsome afflictions could be passed from passenger to passenger

Now two doctors – and several others – have confirmed that there is the definite possibility that passengers will be able to catch whatever someone in front of them in line was suffering from via the latex gloves TSA workers use.      

More here

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

How are these germs passed through the clothes the people are wearing plus the latex gloves. I think this is just a scare tactic to get more people complaining. It doesn't bother me either way as I don't fly. Pat or don't pat.

Anonymous said...

If you can catch all those diseases from a pat down - while you are clothed - then you run the same risk sitting in a seat that someone with those diseases has previously sat in. Talk about fear mongering! Lets just stop all security procedures and just pray that we make it safely to our destination. But if we don't you can't blame the government - you can't have it both ways.

Anonymous said...

yeah and what germ will you pick up from your plane seat?

Anonymous said...

9:57 Such an educated viewpoint. Have you ever been to the otherside of the chesapeake bay bridge? lol

The enhanced pat downs actually can invlove the touching of skin. I have seen TSA agents run their hands inside waistbands and under shirt bottoms and under collars. If they touch skin and then touch you, it is possible to transmit disease. Would you go to a doctor that only changed gloves twice a day or every third patient?

Anonymous said...

12:09 If you have a problem with this side of the bay please leave or I'll be glad to show you the door...Idiot!

Anonymous said...

i wont travel on an airplane because, im not a criminal and will not allow some uneducated,low paid,want to be federal agent pat me down like i broke the law.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I've been to the other side of the bay and I didn't like it very much over there either so I don't go there very often. Usually under duress and I'm glad to get back. I have not seen TSA agents run their hands any where because I don't fly. No, I wouldn't go to a doctor that wouldn't change gloves. I would change doctors or figure maybe it was too "dangerous" for me to go to the doctor and abstain. No one has to go through the pat downs. They can go through the scanner. Or they can also "not fly".
We all want absolute safety when flying--but we don't want to be "put out" to get that safety. We want less crime on our streets but we don't want to pay to put more officers on the street. We want more services from the government but we don't want higher taxes. And when that all fails we want God to grant us a miracle, but hey, we didn't want to believe in him to get that either.

Anonymous said...

4:32 PM
lol I just knew you would have to put your uninformed two cents on this. But you have a lot of company.

6:27 PM
If you are selected for the pat-down you HAVE to take it or face arrest, bullying, etc. You must be new to this subject or have comprehension problems like the other guy.

And the others who have no clue about the transmission of germs and diseases. Unbelievable.

Anonymous said...

"There is no doubt that bacteria (staph, strep, v.cholerae etc.) and viruses (noro, enteroviruses, herpes, hepatitis A and papilloma viruses) can be spread by contaminated vinyl or latex gloves," Dr. Thomas Warner of Wisconsin told WND in a letter to the editor.

"If a traveler has diarrhea and is soiled, as can and does happen, the causative agent can be spread by this method since bacteria and viruses in moist environments have greater viability."

He continued. "The traveler readjusting clothes can easily get the infectious agents on their hands and therefore into their mouth, nose or eyes."

Added a pulmonary critical care physician from Connecticut who did not want to be identified by name, "That doesn't make sense that they're not changing gloves."

"Anything can be transmitted. If there are open wounds and they [TSA agents] are not aware, there's syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes, chlamydia, lice, ringworm."

Worse yet would be for people whose immune systems are compromised by treatments they may be having, including cancer patients, she said.

Etc. etc. etc. It's obvious most of you don't even bother to read the articles that Joe supplies to prove his source and to help INFORM you.

Seems some are just resistant to that.

Anonymous said...

while I agree they should change their gloves after every person the thought that STD's can be spread in this manner is kind of rediculous, if it were true then you could get STD's from sitting on plane seats and from that toilet seat your mom was always telling you about.