Can you catch meningitis on a plane?

Commercial aircraft are suitable environments for the spread of airborne pathogens, including N. meningitidis (2). A case of air-travel--associated meningococcal disease is defined as a patient who meets the case definition of meningococcal disease (3) within 14 days of travel on a flight of at least 8 hours duration.



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Air transportation is a major vehicle for the rapid spread and dissemination of communicable diseases, and there have been a number of reported outbreaks of serious airborne diseases aboard commercial flights including tuberculosis, severe acute respiratory syndrome, influenza, smallpox, and measles, to name a few.

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The risk of transmission in the modern cabin environment is low for a number of reasons: passengers face the same direction, seatbacks act as barriers, air flow is from the top to bottom, and the air is also very clean.

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