Stability of Airborne Rhinovirus in different levels of Relative Humidity

Zhaleh Pourjam Alavijeh - Lund University

11:30 - 11:45 Wednesday 10 June Morning

+ Add to Calendar

Abstract

Introduction: Human rhinovirus (HRV) is the primary cause of acute respiratory infections, but research on the likely transmission pathway via aerosols remains limited. Here we investigate how relative humidity (RH) influence rhinovirus infectivity in aerosol phase, which is essential for developing effective mitigation strategies. Method: Rhinovirus was aerosolized using a nebulizer into a flow tube with controlled humidity. Samples were collected after 8 s with a BioSpot, while particle size distributions were measured using an Aerodynamic Particle Sizer and a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer. Viral genome and infectivity were quantified using qPCR and most probable number (MPN) methods, respectively. Finally, infectivity was normalized to viral gene concentration and total collected aerosol mass. Results: Rhinovirus showed highest infectivity at 10% RH (6 × 10⁻⁵ MPN/copy number), followed by 90% RH (1.41 × 10⁻⁵ MPN/copy number), and lowest at 30% RH (8.44 × 10⁻⁶ MPN/copy number). Normalizing infectivity to total collected aerosol mass followed a similar pattern, consistent with assumption that viral genomes are generally correlated with aerosols mass. However, no significant differences across RH levels were observed for infectivity normalized by genome copy number (p = 0.10) or aerosol mass (p = 0.20). Within each RH group, aerosol concentration varied by ≤8% across 12 runs.  Conclusions: So far, no statistical difference was found at the different RH levels, but more replicates are about to be included in the analysis. In addition, a comparison with influenza A is ongoing, which may show differences in RH stability for non-enveloped and enveloped viruses.

More sessions on Registration