We are leaving for Italy next week. I have heard some passengers are wearing masks or air filter devices as precaution reARS. Is this now common practice? Necessary? What do you think?
Julie

So you are going to wear a mask for the entire flight? How are you going to eat or drink? Are you going to use the toilet? You can't live in a plastic bubble, John Travolta, now can you??? I think you are safe flying to Italy.

Doesn't make sense to me either,but I heard about it from some experienced travelers.

People will think you're Michael Jackson.

According to the news, even a mask will not work unless it is fitted to you. I do not think that you will have a problem going to Italy unless the prior flight of the same plane came from Canada or the far east.

Come on Art.

Please do not slag off Canada as a place. Otherwise I will have to slag off the U.S. due to the homeless problem in SF.

Did you notice my screen name is one third French and two thirds English?

I travel through Ohare weekly on business. Over the past 4 weeks I have noticed no more than 3 people wearing surgical masks. All were oriental. It happened that one of these 3 was seated next to me on a flight to Nashville. He was figgiting with the mask and finally took it off and we talked some. The gentleman was from Korea on his second trip to the US; he had worn the mask at the insistance of his wife (who had stayed at home).

My sister (a critical care nurse who deals with a lot of pneumonia patients) said that, in the context of a flight, a mask prevents someone with SARS from spreading it to others (so what you really want is for everyone else to wear a mask), but isn't particularly helpful for someone without SARS who is trying to avoid catching it (unless, as noted by other posters, it's a specially fitted mask). Think about it: you'll have something over your nose and mouth for the whole trip, getting damp from your breath - seems like a virus magnet to me.

Better precautions: Wash your hands a lot, and have the confidence to raise any concerns you might have about other passengers with airport and flight crew. (You shouldn't have to sit near someone who is coughing, sneezing or looks like s/he has a fever, unless you get reassurance that the person has been screened and there's a logical explanation for his/her condition - eg asthma or allergies.)

Wearing a non fit-tested ordinary surgical mask would help if you were within two to three feet of a coughing/sneezing SARS "case" or were performing a procedure on them such as suctioning and I rather doubt THAT will be occurring. Mask wearing has been common incertain Asian counties for decades and I am not certain there is any scientificaly-based evidence that they are more successful at preventing the spread of infections than thorough handwashing. Masks that are not fit-tested by an Industrial Hygienist and are NIOSH-approved are pretty much useless for filtration of small micron particles. People wearing masks on planes are in the same categories as the airlines that issued gloves to flight attendants...pretty much "cosmetic" attempts to deal with the situation. BUT, if you feel better wearing a mask, then do so. I agree with the above poster...are you planning on holding your breath when you eat and drink..I know airline food can be "bad" but this is ridiculous.

The only people who wear masks in Italy are:
- bank robbers
- people on political demonstrations intending to commit violence
- participants at masked balls
- children playing cowboys and indians.

Which do you want to be taken for?

Flanneruk,

Children in Italy play cowboys and Indians?

Wow.

it so reminds me of our disscusions, here in Israel, about gas masks during the war in Iraq. mostly school children and soldiers(they were made or ordered) carried them around. i think over 80% just ignored the whole thing. (due to the same lake of trust in the other masks that you have). still, when my son came home two weeks ago, flying through Toronto, we were of course angry that he didn't put a mask in the airport. logic is a strange thing.