Washington : Turns out, flu
doesn’t need coughing or sneezing for transmission. According to a new study,
it was revealed influenza virus, commonly known as flu, can be transmitted
through breathing, against all notions of contamination by exposure to droplets
from coughs and sneezes.
University of Maryland-led
study published some new pieces of evidence for the about the airborne
transmission. The “study “Infectious virus in the exhaled breath of symptomatic
seasonal influenza cases from a college community” noted the large quantities
of infectious virus researchers found in the exhaled breath from people
suffering from flu.
Dr. Milton, M.D., MPH,
professor of environmental health in the University of Maryland School of
Public Health and lead researcher of this study said, “We found that flu cases
contaminated the air around them with the infectious virus just by breathing,
without coughing or sneezing”.
He added, “”People with flu
generate infectious aerosols (tiny droplets that stay suspended in the air for
a long time) even when they are not coughing, and especially during the first
days of illness. So when someone is coming down with influenza, they should go
home and not remain in the workplace and infect others”.
Researchers from the San Jose
State University, University of Maryland, University of California – Berkeley,
and Missouri Western State University contributed to this study which was
funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National
Institutes of Health.
The team captured and studied
influenza virus in exhaled breath from 142 confirmed cases of people with
influenza during natural breathing, prompted speech, spontaneous coughing, and
sneezing, and assessed the infectivity of naturally occurring influenza
aerosols.
The participants provided 218
30-minute samples of exhaled breath, spontaneous coughing, and sneezing, and
218 nasopharyngeal swabs on the first, second, and third days after the onset
of symptoms.
The analysis of the infectious
virus showed that a significant number of flu patients routinely shed
infectious virus, not merely detectable RNA, into aerosol particles small
enough to present a risk for airborne transmission.
“The study findings suggest
that keeping surfaces clean, washing our hands all the time, and avoiding
people who are coughing does not provide complete protection from getting the
flu,” said Sheryl Ehrman, Don Beall Dean of the Charles W. Davidson College of
Engineering at San Jose State University. She added, “Staying home and out of
public spaces could make a difference in the spread of the influenza virus”.
According to the authors, the
findings could be used to improve mathematical models of the risk of airborne
influenza transmission from people with the symptomatic illness. The findings
can also help to develop more effective public health interventions and to
control and reduce the impact of influenza epidemics and pandemics.
They also noted that
improvements could be made to ventilation systems to reduce transmission risk
in public places like offices, school classrooms, and subway cars. The study
suggested getting vaccinated, even though it is not perfect but does prevent a
significant amount of severe illness.
The study is published in Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences. (ANI)
Comments
Post a Comment