Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education
Open Access

Abstract

Rhinovirus are picornavirus with over 150 serotypes and 3 species. Although usually causing common colds, in Asthma, COPD and elders it may cause life-threatening disease. Transmission routes may involve human-to-human and indirect transmission. To the best of our knowledge, no outdoor-air based transmission has been reported. In the present study we evaluated the role of outdoor and indoor air-borne virus in the transmission of rhinovirus. Monthly nasal swabs were collected from 89 volunteers. Weekly outdoor and indoor air samples were collected. Daily atmospheric parameters were collected from the FPENAS meteorological station and the public air quality monitoring infrastructure. RNA was purifi ed with Qiagen column-based kits. Viral RNA was quantifi ed by RTqPCR on Lightcycler 1.1 (Roche). No indoor-air samples showed rhinovirus. Outdoor air samples showed rhinovirus presence with a peak in November, closely resembling the frequency of positive nasal samples. Sun Radiation (p<0.0001), and atmospheric SO2 (R=-0.843; p<0.009) and benzene levels (R=0.809; p<0.001) were found to signifi cantly relate to the presence of nasal rhinovirus. Conclusions: Air-borne rhinovirus correlates with human infection. This may be infl uenced by viral stability due to atmospheric conditions. Additionally, immune-system interfering pollutants such as atmospheric benzene may also infl uence airborne rhinovirus infectivity.

Biography

E-mail: 31130@ufp.edu.pt