New clues to how flu virus spreads

People are generally surprised to learn that scientists don’t know for sure how flu spreads,” says Donald Milton, M.D., Dr.P.H., who directs the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health and led the study of influenza virus aerosols published in the journal PLOS Pathogens on March 7, 2013. “Our study provides new evidence that there is nearly nine times more influenza virus present the smallest airborne droplets in the breath exhaled from those infected with flu than in the larger droplets that would be expected to carry more virus,” explains Dr. Milton. “This has important implications for how we prevent the spread of flu.” Routes of flu transmission include: direct or indirect (e.g., doorknobs, keyboards) contact with an infected person; contact via large droplet spray from a respiratory fluid (via coughs and sneezes); and inhalation of fine airborne particles, which are generated by the release of smaller, virus-containing droplets via normal breathing and coughing. The relative...