Aerosol Transmission of Rhinovirus Colds

TLDR

Rhinovirus infections can spread via aerosol, direct contact, or fomite routes. The study employed four 12‑hour card‑playing experiments with infected donors and susceptible recipients, comparing aerosol‑only exposure (restrained recipients) to mixed exposure and a fomite‑only scenario. The findings indicate that, contrary to prevailing belief, rhinovirus transmission in adults occurs primarily through aerosols.

Abstract

Rhinovirus infections may spread by aerosol, direct contact, or indirect contact involving environmental objects. We examined aerosol and indirect contact in transmission of rhinovirus type 16 colds between laboratory-infected men (donors) and susceptible men (recipients) who played cards together for 12 hr. In three experiments the infection rate of restrained recipients (10 [56%] of 18), who could not touch their faces and could only have been infected by aerosols, and that of unrestrained recipients (12[67%] of 18), who could have been infected by aerosol, by direct contact, or by indirect fomite contact, was not significantly different (chi 2 = 0.468, P = .494). In a fourth experiment, transmission via fomites heavily used for 12 hr by eight donors was the only possible route of spread, and no transmissions occurred among 12 recipients (P less than .001 by two-tailed Fisher's exact test). These results suggest that contrary to current opinion, rhinovirus transmission, at least in adults, occurs chiefly by the aerosol route.