help button home button
AJRCCM
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Published ahead of print on January 30, 2004, doi:10.1164/rccm.200306-760OC
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Online Supplement
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
200306-760OCv1
169/11/1187    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Myatt, T. A.
Right arrow Articles by Milton, D. K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Myatt, T. A.
Right arrow Articles by Milton, D. K.
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine Vol 169. pp. 1187-1190, (2004)
© 2004 American Thoracic Society

Original Article

Detection of Airborne Rhinovirus and Its Relation to Outdoor Air Supply in Office Environments

Theodore A. Myatt, Sebastian L. Johnston, Zhengfa Zuo, Matthew Wand, Tatiana Kebadze, Stephen Rudnick and Donald K. Milton

Departments of Environmental Health and Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts; and Department of Respiratory Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College of London, London, United Kingdom

Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Donald K. Milton, M.D., Dr. PH., Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115-6021. E-mail: dmilton{at}hsph.harvard.edu

Rhinoviruses are major causes of morbidity in patients with respiratory diseases; however, their modes of transmission are controversial. We investigated detection of airborne rhinovirus in office environments by polymerase chain reaction technology and related detection to outdoor air supply rates. We sampled air from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. each workday, with each sample run for 1 work week. We directly extracted RNA from the filters for nested reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction analysis of rhinovirus. Nasal lavage samples from building occupants with upper respiratory infections were also collected. Indoor carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations were recorded every 10 minutes as a surrogate for outdoor air supply. To increase the range of CO2 concentrations, we adjusted the outdoor air supply rates every 3 months. Generalized additive models demonstrated an association between the probability of detecting airborne rhinovirus and a weekly average CO2 concentration greater than approximately 100 ppm, after controlling for covariates. In addition, one rhinovirus from a nasal lavage contained an identical nucleic acid sequence similar to that in the building air collected during the same week. These results suggest that occupants in buildings with low outdoor air supply may have an increased risk of exposure to infectious droplet nuclei emanating from a fellow building occupant.

Key Words: rhinovirus • air sampling • ventilation • office buildings




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Clin. Microbiol. Rev.Home page
J. B. Mahony
Detection of Respiratory Viruses by Molecular Methods
Clin. Microbiol. Rev., October 1, 2008; 21(4): 716 - 747.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.Home page
D. Verreault, S. Moineau, and C. Duchaine
Methods for Sampling of Airborne Viruses
Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev., September 1, 2008; 72(3): 413 - 444.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ANN OCCUP HYGHome page
L. T. McKernan, K. M. Wallingford, M. J. Hein, H. Burge, C. A. Rogers, and R. Herrick
Monitoring Microbial Populations on Wide-Body Commercial Passenger Aircraft
Ann. Hyg., March 1, 2008; 52(2): 139 - 149.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 CMAJHome page
T. Kovesi MD, N. L. Gilbert MSc, C. Stocco MSc, D. Fugler PEng, R. E. Dales MD MSc, M. Guay MSc, and J. D. Miller PhD
Indoor air quality and the risk of lower respiratory tract infections in young Canadian Inuit children
Can. Med. Assoc. J., July 17, 2007; 177(2): 155 - 160.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Indoor and Built EnvironmentHome page
P.S. Hui, L.T. Wong, K.W. Mui, and K.Y. Law
Survey of Unsatisfactory Levels of Airborne Bacteria in Air-conditioned Offices
Indoor and Built Environment, April 1, 2007; 16(2): 130 - 138.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med.Home page
B. Nemery, W. W. Yew, R. Albert, C. Brun-Buisson, W. MacNee, F. J. Martinez, D. C. Angus, and E. Abraham
Tuberculosis, Nontuberculous Lung Infection, Pleural Disorders, Pulmonary Function, Respiratory Muscles, Occupational Lung Disease, Pulmonary Infections, and Social Issues in AJRCCM in 2004
Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., March 15, 2005; 171(6): 554 - 562.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 JWatch Infect. DiseasesHome page
Are Cold Viruses Transmitted via Aerosols?
Journal Watch Infectious Diseases, June 28, 2004; 2004(628): 13 - 13.
[Full Text]

Home page
 Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med.Home page
J. M. Samet
How Do We Catch Colds?
Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., June 1, 2004; 169(11): 1175 - 1176.
[Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Proc. Am. Thorac. Soc. Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol.
Copyright © 2004 American Thoracic Society 		  ATS 2008 State of the Art Course