Determination of Murine Norovirus Aerosol Concentration During Toilet Flushing

Details

• Personal Author:
  Boles C ; Brown G ; Nonnenmann M
• Description:
  Murine norovirus (MNV) was used as a surrogate for human viral pathogens (e.g., norovirus) to determine if toilet flushing resulted in the aerosolization of virus. A flushometer type toilet was seeded with a viral solution of 105 and 106 PFU mL-1 of MNV and then flushed. Upon flushing, two bioaerosol samplers were activated to collect aerosolized MNV. Prior to the experiment, two optical particle counters monitored particle size and number distribution of aerosol produced from flushing a toilet across height, position, and side. The location with the highest mean particle concentration, was behind the toilet and 0.15 m above the toilet bowl rim, which is where bioaerosol sampling occurred. Bioaerosol and toilet water samples were collected, extracted and then quantified using RT-ddPCR. The concentration of MNV collected after seeding the toilet water ranged from 2.18 × 105 to 9.65 × 106 total copies of MNV. Positive samples of airborne MNV were detected with collected concentrations ranging from 383 to 684 RNA copies/m3 of air. This study provides evidence that viral pathogens may be aerosolized when a toilet is flushed. Furthermore, the MNV used in this study is a model organism for human norovirus and may be generalizable to other viral pathogens (e.g., coronavirus). This study suggests that virus is aerosolized from toilet flushing and may contribute to human exposure to viral pathogens. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Caliciviridae Infections Norovirus Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety Viral Diseases
• Keywords:
  Aerosol Particles Bioaerosols Humans Monitoring Systems Particle Counters Particle Size Pathogens Samplers Sampling Viral Diseases Viral Infections

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• ISSN:
  2045-2322
• Publisher:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (U.S.)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Iowa ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 7
• Rights:
  Public Domain
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  11
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20064127
• Citation:
  Sci Rep 2021 Dec; 11:23558
• Email:
  corey.boles@cardno.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2022
• Performing Organization:
  University of Iowa
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• End Date:
  20290630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ce46cfd0c4ff5b9963163ba94901acf955c65d01f3291d2b04c409550693b55be67df614f03abff4ac1e803cc1fbd33086416b6dde224e3b9d45713eb2cb9041
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/222641/cdc_222641_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.11 MB ]