The Flu and You — air travel

Get a cold nearly every time you fly? Well, it's not because of the type of air on board. Whether your plane circulates fresh air -- or recirculates cabin air -- doesn't seem to make a difference, studies show. In recent years, new commercial aircraft have been designed to recirculate approximately 50% of the cabin air to increase fuel efficiency. But it's not been known whether air recirculation increases the transmission of infectious disease. But some studies have shown higher rates of the common cold among people working in buildings that recirculate air, writes Jessica Nutik Zitter, MD, MPH, a...