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Comments (8)
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Save/ShareHong Kong's main airport may be the world's most aggressive when it comes to flu prevention methods. Since 2003, arriving passengers have had to walk through "fever scanners." The body-heat sensors, which look like metal detectors, scan to see if a passenger is feverish.
If the body temperature is 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, a red image shows up on a computer screen. Officials then pull the passenger aside for secondary screening (such as a throat examination, etc.), in case he or she might be a carrier of a contagious flu or a virus that may cause a potentially fatally pneumonia. Passengers with a confirmed fever are detained and sent to a clinic for additional observation. If doctors find symptoms of a respiratory illness and the traveler has passed through a city with a confirmed swine-flu outbreak, the traveler will be quarantined at a hospital for two or three days until tests could confirm the presence of the flu.
Australia is rushing to add the body-heat scanners to their airports. A handful of other international airports also use the fever screening machines, including Indonesia's, Malaysia's, and Taiwan's main international airports.
But are the $50,000 body-heat scanners worthwhile? French researchers recently tried to find out. They ran a study on the accuracy of the fever detectors on more than 2,000 people, comparing their temperature readings at a distance with the use of the standard thermometer. The scanners only detected one out of six [five] people who had fevers and illnesses. That's an awful lot of people slipping through the system. The body-heat machines also falsely reported lots of people as having fevers who turned out not to have fevers, inconveniencing them at the airport checkpoints.
In an interview with a New York Times article, Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said:
When Hong Kong was hit with severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, “increased border screening on entry and exit was not an effective way of identifying cases or preventing transmission."One reason is that passenger screening might not work with swine flu because the symptoms often show up two to seven days after the person has become contagious.
But some of the ideas that Hong Kong airport workers have seem pretty smart to me. They're putting up "fresh sheets of plastic film over elevator buttons so that any sick people pressing the buttons would not share their germs with too many people who pressed the same buttons later," reports the New York Times. Every little measure like that has got to help slow the spread of an illness.
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Wow, I didn't know that such things existed, but I guess anything for prevention. have you heard the latest news regarding "Swine Flu"? they want to change the name b/c it is negatively affecting the economies of many countries. Take a look.
http://www.newsy.com/videos/swine_flu_gets_a_makeover/
Posted By Kelsey on April 30, 2009, 11:44 AM
The standard for gauging temperature is 98.2 for a well person. My normal is lower - 96.8. Who would know but me if I had a temperature (fever)..
Posted By R L on May 1, 2009, 11:39 AM
Fever screening of passengers will begin immediately
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - April 28, 2009) - Cantronic Systems Inc., ("Cantronic" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:CTS) announced today that it has delivered its state-of-the-art FeverScan M3000D dual vision thermal imaging camera system to El Salvador, at the request of the Salvadoran government. This fever scanning and monitoring system will be installed immediately at the San Salvador Comalapa International Airport in an effort to combat the possible spread of Swine flu.
Read the article at:
http://www.cantronics.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=140:april-28-2009&catid=1:press-releases&Itemid=60
Posted By thermalimager on May 4, 2009, 12:56 PM
Problems with the 'fever scan':
Some people NEVER run a fever. My son has had scarlet fever and never ran a fever. The doctor says that is normal for some people.
On the other hand, if I get over tired or just have my allergies act up, I right away run a fever!
If I got detained every time I ran a fever, I would never go anywhere.
Posted By CA on May 4, 2009, 5:19 PM
Hey - if you detain me at the airport because a hot flash shows up as a fever on your scanner you are going to have one angry woman on your hands!
Posted By Trudie on May 5, 2009, 7:00 AM
Screening for influenza by taking temperatures is a lot like trying to catch rain water with a screen... It is absolutely ineffective and a poor use of scarce resources!
Posted By Jason C. on May 24, 2009, 8:24 AM
Scanners may be somewhat ineffective at detecting contagious individuals - but the psychological barrier presented to potentially ill travelers is nonetheless quite effective. Who wants to be tagged by airport security and quarantined for 3 days in isolation?
People will think twice about traveling if they think they might be ill. I like it.
And when, oh when, will industrial designers finally install touchless buttons on elevators. It's time.
Posted By Mac on September 16, 2009, 1:34 PM
Some interesting points...
One reason is that passenger screening might not work with swine flu because the symptoms often show up two to seven days after the person has become contagious.
I'd be very interested to know if the latest M3000 fever scan cameras made by Cantronics address this question?
Posted By Subshana Jones on October 15, 2009, 4:45 PM