Originally Posted by
XXmet
Back when people smoked on Airline Aircraft, changing the air-cycle machine fabric filter was a horrible, nasty mess that would disgust a sewer rat. Thick gummy tar covering an eight inch diameter cone stretching another ten inches in length over a metal loop. All this after a couple or three days flying. So it's reasonable to suspect that Covid-19 bacteria are on those filters now I would think. But changing them on a regular basis may have subsided since the smoker days. Air blowing threw them constantly flight after flight. Bits of bacteria coming off and re-entering the cabin vents, building up inside the ducts. Last I checked, there was no maintenance protocol for disinfecting the aircraft ducts. Up to hundreds of people in close proximity breathing and rebreathing each other's lung air, with duct air blowing in your face. I wonder if this bacteria can breed in a warm duct wet spot? Growing, morphing, getting bigger, angrier, unraveling the vent clasps, teeth protruding, hungry, wet, salivating, forming claws, teeth...then.....Sydney approach....we have a prob......zzzz
Um… After 18 months I would have thought everybody would be up to speed on the difference between bacteria and a Virus. Viruses by themselves can do absolutely nothing. They can’t breed, grow, or mutate on a surface. All they can do is become non viable after a very short time in a HEPA filter ( which are used on aircraft nowadays). They can only do “something” when they are inside a hosts cell.
Bacteria are almost the complete opposite. They can breed, and grow on a surface indecently.
You can think of it as bacteria are living organisms and viruses are not a living organism. There is some controversy among scientists on the this, depending on how you define “alive”, but for a basic layman’s explanation it will work.
So no need to worry, no teeth and claws coming to an aircraft near you.