Zika Is Flying Into The US—And Airports Have No Way To Stop It
Of the more than 500 cases of the Zika virus on US soil documented so far, all are from people flying into the U.S.
Almost every single Zika case in the U.S. so far has been contracted overseas and walked through an American airport onto American soil. And while the rate of incoming human Zika carriers is likely to shoot up this summer, there’s nothing airports can do about it. Our first line of defense is, in this case, no defense at all.
A new report from the PLOS Journal shows how airline travel is likely to play a significant role in the transmission of the Zika virus. For most of Zika’s journey around the world, humans in airplanes will be the main vector, making airports the silent hubs for 2016’s most troubling public health problem.