Measurements of airborne influenza virus in aerosol particles from human coughs.

Autor: William G Lindsley, Francoise M Blachere, Robert E Thewlis, Abhishek Vishnu, Kristina A Davis, Gang Cao, Jan E Palmer, Karen E Clark, Melanie A Fisher, Rashida Khakoo, Donald H Beezhold
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2010
Předmět:
Zdroj: PLoS ONE, Vol 5, Iss 11, p e15100 (2010)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1932-6203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015100
Popis: Influenza is thought to be communicated from person to person by multiple pathways. However, the relative importance of different routes of influenza transmission is unclear. To better understand the potential for the airborne spread of influenza, we measured the amount and size of aerosol particles containing influenza virus that were produced by coughing. Subjects were recruited from patients presenting at a student health clinic with influenza-like symptoms. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from the volunteers and they were asked to cough three times into a spirometer. After each cough, the cough-generated aerosol was collected using a NIOSH two-stage bioaerosol cyclone sampler or an SKC BioSampler. The amount of influenza viral RNA contained in the samplers was analyzed using quantitative real-time reverse-transcription PCR (qPCR) targeting the matrix gene M1. For half of the subjects, viral plaque assays were performed on the nasopharyngeal swabs and cough aerosol samples to determine if viable virus was present. Fifty-eight subjects were tested, of whom 47 were positive for influenza virus by qPCR. Influenza viral RNA was detected in coughs from 38 of these subjects (81%). Thirty-five percent of the influenza RNA was contained in particles>4 µm in aerodynamic diameter, while 23% was in particles 1 to 4 µm and 42% in particles
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