People have been left horrified after discovering just how dirty an airplane can be. It comes as one TikToker called @The_lab_life, who describes herself as a Master of Science student, gave viewers some pretty grim insight into the bacteria that lurks on various aircraft hotspots.
In a recent video, which has now racked up a whopping 1.3 million views, the TikTok scientist films herself taking swabs of some of the most touched areas - including the head rest, tray table and toilet door handle. She then rubs each swab into a petri dish and leaves them to incubate.
She takes the dishes back out after a while and takes up-close footage of the results. In each one, there is an array of growth - from long pale squiggles to white and yellow blobs.
However, she goes on the reveal that the results were actually "much better than expected", as stated in the caption of the clip - which you can watch below. She added: "All pretty normal flora bacteria."
In the video she lists the bacteria - "B. subtilis" - that was living on the tray table. For the head rest, she says there was germs called "M. luteus, Streptococcus sp, N. Subflava and M. Smegmatis" lingering on it.
And on the toilet lock and door handle, she says she found strains of "M. luteus, Straphyloccus sp and Streptococcus sp." Fortunately, she told followers in the comments that these bacteria are "not harmful".
However, this still wasn't enough reassurance for some horrified and grossed out viewers. Lita declared: "I’m never gonna go on an airplane again."
Ginger echoed: "This made me not wanna ever go on an airplane." APerson also said: "I will never be going on an airplane ever again."
Asudeyaren admitted: "This is why I bring my wipes everywhere better than nothing." In reference to the germs on the head rest, King put: "Be right back, need to go wash my hair …. Again."
Sierramist1112, asked: "So you know what bacteria they are from what they look like? Or how do you know? Super cool!!" To which The_lab_life replied: "Yes ! Based on morphology, gram stanining and other chemical tests."
