Top airports for spreading disease - WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |

Undated (WXOW) - If you're traveling by plane this summer, you might bring home a souvenir you don't want.

Researchers at MIT Looked at our 40 largest airports to figure out which are most likely to spread a disease in the event of an outbreak in their cities.

New York's JFK airport tops the list and Los Angeles International airport comes in at number two.

The third airport on the list may surprise you.  It's Honolulu International.

Researchers say it's because of where Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean, with many connections to distant, large, and well-connected hubs.

Public health crises like the SARS outbreak, have shown how easy it is for diseases to travel.

Researchers say this information can help determine ways to contain an infection or steer treatment and vaccination decisions in the early stages.

The study appears in the journal PLoS ONE.