Spread of viral infections by aerosols

Abstract

Viruses are responsible for a variety of diseases in humans as well as animals of economic importance. Although consumption of virus‐contaminated water and food is known to result in the spread of some of these diseases, air is now recognized as an important means for their transmission. Depending on environmental conditions, many of these viruses can survive in an airborne state anywhere from several hours to several days. This can result in the aerial dissemination of such infectious agents over distances of several kilometers. This review will critically evaluate the available information on what major factors influence the airborne survival of human and animal pathogenic viruses. It will also examine those published data where infectious viruses have been recovered from naturally contaminated atmosphere, and summarize the information from epidemiological studies documenting the airborne spread of viral infections. The existing gaps in our knowledge of this field will then be identified.