Effects of Temperature, Relative Humidity, Absolute Humidity, and Evaporation Potential on Survival of Airborne Gumboro Vaccine Virus

Abstract

Survival of airborne virus influences the extent of disease transmission via air. How environmental factors affect viral survival is not fully understood. We investigated the survival of a vaccine strain of Gumboro virus which was aerosolized at three temperatures (10°C, 20°C, and 30°C) and two relative humidities (RHs) (40% and 70%). The response of viral survival to four metrics (temperature, RH, absolute humidity [AH], and evaporation potential [EP]) was examined. The results show a biphasic viral survival at 10°C and 20°C, i.e., a rapid initial inactivation in a short period (2.3 min) during and after aerosolization, followed by a slow secondary inactivation during a 20-min period after aerosolization. The initial decays of aerosolized virus at 10°C (1.68 to 3.03 ln % min ؊1 ) and 20°C (3.05 to 3.62 ln % min ؊1 ) were significantly lower than those at 30°C (5.67 to 5.96 ln % min ؊1 ). The secondary decays at 10°C (0.03 to 0.09 ln % min ؊1 ) tended to be higher than those at 20°C (؊0.01 to 0.01 ln % min ؊1 ). The initial viral survival responded to temperature and RH and potentially to EP; the secondary viral survival responded to temperature and potentially to RH. In both phases, survival of the virus was not significantly affected by AH. These findings suggest that longdistance transmission of airborne virus is more likely to occur at 20°C than at 10°C or 30°C and that current Gumboro vaccination by wet aerosolization in poultry industry is not very effective due to the fast initial decay.

Release of Free DNA by Membrane-Impaired Bacterial Aerosols Due to Aerosolization and Air Sampling

“…The desiccation of the already collected bioaerosols, together with the desiccation of agar media, contributed to decreased microorganism recovery (16). We found no reports on the impact of dehydration on cell membrane integrity; however, the protein coating of airborne Gumboro virus was reported to be damaged at a lower humidity level (59). The data presented in our study clearly show that cell membrane rupture is more substantial with prolonged sampling periods, which was demonstrated by higher I D values for samples exposed to dry air for an extended sampling period than for those without such exposure.…”

Hendra virus survival does not explain spillover patterns and implicates relatively direct transmission routes from flying foxes to horses

“…Thus, we recommend that future survival experiments be performed over shorter time periods that allow more confidence for interpolation. Experiments should also include the effect of other potential processes that affect HeV survival, such as desiccation and UV radiation (Zhao et al, 2012).…”

Evaluation of infectious bursal disease virus stability at different conditions of temperature and pH

“…It has been shown that the infectivity of IBDV can be modulated at higher as well as lower temperatures [41,42]. The effects of humidity and evaporation have been studied extensively on air borne IBDV vaccine strains [43]. In the present study, we are evaluating the effectiveness of the vaccine strains of IBDV at different temperature and pH conditions.…”