If you're traveling by plane this summer, you might get a souvenir you don't
want.
MIT researchers looked at our 40 largest airports to figure out which are
most likely to spread a disease in the event of an outbreak in their cities.
New York's JFK airport tops the list. Los Angeles International
airport comes in at number two. The third airport on the list may
surprise you. It's Honolulu International. Researchers say it's because
of where Hawaii is, in the Pacific Ocean, with many connections to distant,
large, and well-connected hubs.
Public health crises like the SARS outbreak,
have shown how easy it is for diseases to travel.
Researchers say this
information can help determine ways to contain an infection or steer treatment
and vaccination decisions in the early stages.
The study appears in the
journal PLoS ONE.
