'Vomit Machine' shows that norovirus can go into the air

14:58
'Vomit Machine' shows that norovirus can go into the air -

There is no shortage of verbiage for vomiting, but surprisingly little is known about the physics behind blowing chunks or how infections spread as a result of regurgitation. previous anecdotal evidence suggested that virus particles specifically norovirus, the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis in the United States could go airborne in-process puke. But according to the food virologist Lee-Ann Jaykus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, "no one has ever proved in a laboratory model that the virus can be aerosolized by vomiting." To remedy this, Jaykus and his team built a miniature "machine vomiting," quarter-scale model of the entire human digestive system with an artificial stomach, esophagus and mouth. They designed to mimic all the pressures and volumes present in humans hurling then inoculated his juice "stomach" by a virus called MS2 (which is similar in size, shape and composition of norovirus but not dangerous to humans). They ran the machine in a sealed chamber connected to a sensor capable of detecting all floating virus particles. The team reports today in PLOS ONE , used a variety of different pressures, vomit viscosities, volumes and concentrations of virus and found that in every instance-MS2 viral particles can be detected in the air. As expected, more virus particles were aerosolized MS2 when more was added to the stomach and at the same time the viscosity of vomiting and the system pressure were found to be important variables. Most virus-over 13,000 particles were observed with the concentration of the high initial virus and high viscosity of vomit. According to the team, the results confirm the plausibility of anecdotal reports of norovirus is transmitted through the air after a round of retching.

Previous
Next Post »
0 Komentar