Aerosolization and recovery of viable murine norovirus in an experimental setup

Abstract

Noroviruses are the major cause for viral acute gastroenteritis in the world. Despite the existing infection prevention strategies in hospitals, the disease continues to spread and causes extensive and numerous outbreaks. Hence, there is a need to investigate the possibility of airborne transmission of norovirus. In this study, we developed an experimental setup for studies on the infectivity of aerosolized murine norovirus (MNV), a model for the human norovirus. Two aerosol generation principles were evaluated: bubble bursting, a common natural aerosolization mechanism, and nebulization, a common aerosolization technique in laboratory studies. The aerosolization setup was characterized by physical and viral dilution factors, generated aerosol particle size distributions, and the viral infectivity after aerosolization. We found a lower physical dilution factor when using the nebulization generator than with the bubble bursting generator. The viral dilution factor of the system was higher than the physical dilution; however, when comparing the physical and viral dilution factors, bubble bursting generation was more efficient. The infectivity per virus was similar using either generation principle, suggesting that the generation itself had a minor impact on MNV infectivity and that instead, the effect of drying in air could be a major reason for infectivity losses.

Detection and Quantification of Enteric Pathogens in Aerosols Near Open Wastewater Canals in Cities with Poor Sanitation

“…In La Paz, we detected norovirus GII at the highest average density across all targets (13 gc/m air 3 ) and norovirus GI at a mean of 2.4 gc/m air 3 . Norovirus is relatively resistant to inactivation in environmental media, may persist on environmental surfaces for up to 2 weeks, has been shown to survive in aerosols, − and has an estimated relatively low median infectious dose between 18 and 10 3 virus particles . It is among the most widely prevalent viral enteric pathogens, globally, with estimated 33 000 cases and 20 000 deaths per year. ,, Norovirus transport through bioaerosols and subsequent deposition and indirect exposure through ingestion remain poorly characterized.…”

A systematic review of enteric pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes in outdoor urban aerosols

“…Viruses may be highly mobile in aerosols, but would not be captured in 16S rRNA sequencing that represents the bulk of analytical methods used in bioaerosols analysis. The available evidence from our review and other emerging evidence 44 suggests that enteric viruses are important potential targets in urban aerosols, particularly norovirus given its well documented transport in aerosols [141][142][143][144] . Of the studies that employed methods that would be suited to the detection of enteric viruses (6 out of 101 covered in this review), 33% (n=2) identified them, including detections of human enterovirus, human rotavirus, and human adenovirus (Table 2).…”

Detection and quantification of enteric pathogens in aerosols near open wastewater canals in cities with poor sanitation

“…In La Paz, we detected norovirus GII at the highest average density across all targets (13 gc/m 3 air ) and norovirus GI at a mean of 2.4 gc/m 3 air . Norovirus is relatively resistant to inactivation in environmental media 120 , may persist on environmental surfaces for up to two weeks 121 , has been shown to survive in aerosols [122][123][124][125][126] , and has an estimated relatively low median infectious dose between 18 and 10 3 virus particles 127 . It is among the most widely prevalent viral enteric pathogens, globally, with an estimated 33,000 cases and 20,000 deaths per year 115,128,129 .…”