Transmission of viruses Flashcards
This deck covers the lectures about respiratory-, fecal-oral- and sexual transmission of viruses
What are the three ways of respiratory virus transmission?
- (In)direct contact through inoculation of fomites
- Large droplets land on mucosa of person in close proximity
- Aerosols are inhaled and deposited in respiratory tract
What can be said about the INF load during respiratory transmission for:
- Donor
- Interface
- Recipient
- Donor: high INF load
- Interface: stability
- Recipient: low INF load
What are the characteristics of the donor during respiratory transmission? (5)
- High viral load
- Replication in URT
- Induction of production of mucus
- Induction of clinical signs
- Host immune responses
What factors influence the interface during respiratory transmission? (5)
- Stability/survival in aerosols
- Temperature
- Relative humidity -> influences environmental survival pathogen
- Air ventilation (inside) and air movement (outside)
- UV radiation
What are the characteristics of the recipient during respiratory transmission? (4)
- Low infectious dose
- Size of virus-containing aerosols
- Tissue/cellular tropism
- Host immune responses
What kind of experiments/data generates evidence of the airborne transmission of respiratory viruses? (5)
- Outbreak reports
- Experimental infection of humans
- Animal experiments
- Data on exhaled breath
- In-vitro experiments
Describe an example of experimental infection of humans about airborne transmission of RSV
Young adults were divided into three groups to measure airborne transmission
- Cuddlers: caring for the baby in the usual manner
- Touchers: volunteers touched the contaminated surfaces
- Sitters: Exposed by sitting at a distance of more than 6 ft
Why are animal experiment useful to study airborne transmission of influenza virus? (3)
- Animals are susceptible to natural infection
- Respiratory disease and lung pathology similar to humans
- Patterns of virus attachment similar to humans
What are the host differences during influenza A infection between avian- and human flu? (3)
- Target: intestinal tract vs. upper airways
- Different receptor
- Temperature: 41C vs 33C
Which questions can one ask when studying generations and collection of respiratory viruses from the air? (3)
- Which respiratory viruses can be found in the air? For how long? Are they still infectious?
- Which particles contain virus? Large droplets or small aerosols?
- What is the viral load in the air?
What are the three phases of person-to-person transmission?
- Phase 1: Generation, aerosolization and exhalation
- Phase 2: Transport via air; droplets
- Phase 3: Inhalation, deposition and infection
What are the three phases of the research agenda for respiratory transmission routes?
- Transmission routes
- Animal experiments
- In-vitro experiments
What are the parameters for respiratory emission? (3)
- Aerosols
- Droplets
- Monodisperse/heterogeneous
What are the parameters for the interface/environment? (4)
- Salinity
- Mucus
- Temperature/humidity
- Evaporation
Respiratory transmission: What are the parameters for the recipient? (4)
- (new) samplers
- Air-liquid interface cultures
- Presence of mucus
- Infectious dose
What is the definition of fecal-oral human-to-human transmission?
Transmission of a pathogen from the host (acutely ill or chronic carrier) to a susceptible human (recipient) via the fecal-oral route
Which viruses follow the fecal-oral human-to-human transmission route? (5)
- Enteric adenovirus
- Hepatitis A virus
- Norwalk virus
- Poliovirus and other enteroviruses
- Rotavirus
What makes rotavirus special?
Lower incidence, higher mortality