AAAR 34th Annual Conference
October 12 - October 16, 2015
Hyatt Regency
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Viable Influenza Virus in Cough and Exhaled Breath Aerosol Particles
WILLIAM LINDSLEY, Francoise Blachere, Donald Beezhold, Robert Thewlis, Bahar Noorbakhsh, Sreekumar Othumpangat, William Goldsmith, Cynthia McMillen, Carmen Burrell, John Noti, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Abstract Number: 140 Working Group: Environmental Fate of Infectious Aerosols
Abstract Many infectious viral respiratory diseases are thought to spread at least in part by aerosol transmission. However, aerosol transmission often is difficult to prove: these diseases typically can spread by multiple pathways, the amount of virus expelled in aerosols is usually small and varies over the course of the illness, and viable airborne viruses can be difficult to collect and culture. Our group has studied the aerosol transmission of influenza by collecting cough and exhalation-generated aerosol particles from influenza patients, and then using PCR and culture-based methods to detect the virus and measure its viability. In one study, we detected influenza virus RNA in the cough aerosols from 32 of 38 influenza patients (84%), and showed that 65% of the viral RNA was in aerosol particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 4 micrometer or less. In a second study, we were able to culture influenza virus from the cough aerosols of 7 of 17 influenza patients (41%). Further, almost all of the viable influenza virus was detected in small particles (0.3 to 8 micrometer), demonstrating that the aerosol could remain airborne for an extended time, be easily inhaled, and potentially infect other people. In our most recent study, 61 volunteer subjects were recruited from patients presenting at a student health clinic with influenza-like symptoms. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from the subjects, and they were asked to cough three times and exhale three times into a modified rolling-seal spirometer. The aerosol particles produced by each cough or exhalation were collected in modified HBSS using an SKC BioSampler. The samples were then analyzed for viable influenza virus. The results provide information about the possible role of infectious aerosol particles in influenza transmission, especially in the immediate vicinity of an influenza patient.