| Abstract: | The traveler faces two types of specific risks for tuberculosis: that of a possible contagion through the unexpected contact with an infected person during a commercial flight (the available studies dealing mostly with cases of transmission during flights, the chapter will deal mainly with this question) and that of a possible contamination during a stay in a country with strong prevalence of TB. The ventilation in airliners is designed to limit movements of air to the front or the back of the aircraft. Moreover, studies have shown that the transmission of M. tuberculosis from passenger to passenger was observed only within the same cabin. Consequently, it is usually admitted that only passengers sitting next to the patient (3 rows ahead and behind, and 3 seats on the right and on the left of the infected passenger, depending on the aircraft's seat set-up) as well as the members of crew working in this same cabin must be warned of the potential risk a posteriori. The recommendations which follow are to be considered all the more carefully that the duration of stay is long, that the country or the geographical area is more at the risk (for example urban environment in a highly endemic zone), that the traveler is more fragile (infants and elderly people, immunodepression, etc.) and that activities during the stay will be more at risk. |
