A study suggests that influenza viruses can spread through the air not only in droplets which a person who has the virus releases when they talk, cough, or sneeze but also on microscopic dust particles.
Seasonal flu outbreaks are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide every year. In a pandemic, such as the1918 Spanish flu pandemic, millions can lose their lives.
In order to reduce transmission, scientists need to understand exactly how influenza viruses spread from person to person.
Experts have assumed that the droplets produced when a person with the virus breathes, talks, coughs, or sneezes are solely responsible for the airborne transmission of viruses.
But a new study suggests that dust, fibers, and other microscopic particles can also transmit influenza viruses through the air, with far-reaching implications for preventing and controlling outbreaks. First, the scientists used a device called an aerodynamic particle sizer to sample the air from a cage containing a guinea pig. The device revealed that the animal generated airborne particles ranging in size from 0.3 to 20 micrometers (or thousandths of a millimeter) in bursts of about 1,000 particles per second whenever it moved.
Healthy anesthetized animals exhaled only 0.10 to 0.18 particles per second, and anesthetized animals with influenza generated 0.5 particles per second.
This suggested that dust, rather than respiratory droplets, accounted for the vast majority of particulate matter released into the air while the animals were active.
SMARTPHONES MEASURING WALK COULD DETECT DRUNKENNESS
New research has found that a smartphone can accurately detect whether the person who has it is drunk, based on how they are walking.
Many people throughout the world enjoy drinking alcohol safely, without causing harm to themselves or others. Yet alcohol is also the direct or indirect cause of a significant number of health issues, injuries, and deaths.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, alcohol use is the third leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., behind smoking and issues concerning physical activity and diet. Approximately 88,000 people die of alcohol-related causes each year. Estimates show that 5.8% of people 18 or over have alcohol use disorder, a chronic condition that can keep a person from limiting their intake of alcohol, in spite of its negative effects.
