Open Access
Issue
Vet. Res.
Volume 38, Number 1, January-February 2007
Page(s) 81 - 93
DOI https://doi.org/10.1051/vetres:2006044
Published online 08 December 2006
How to cite this article Vet. Res. (2007) 81-93
Vet. Res. 38 (2007) 81-93
DOI: 10.1051/vetres:2006044

Effect of temperature and relative humidity on the stability of infectious porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in aerosols

Joseph Hermanna, Steve Hoffb, Claudia Muñoz-Zanzic, Kyoung-Jin Yoona, Michael Roofd, Anna Burkhardta and Jeffrey Zimmermana

a  Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011-1250, USA
b  Department of Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering, College of Agriculture, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011-1250, USA
c  Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA
d  Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc., 2501 North Loop Dr., Suite 1000, Ames, Iowa 50010, USA

(Received 7 July 2006; accepted 13 September 2006; published online 8 December 2006)

Abstract - The objective of this experiment was to describe the stability of airborne infectious porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) as a function of temperature and relative humidity. A cloud of infectious PRRSV was aerosolized using 24-jet Collison nebulizer into a dynamic aerosol toroid (DAT) maintained at a specific temperature and relative humidity. The PRRSV cloud within the DAT was sampled repeatedly over time using SKC BioSampler $^{\circledR}$ impingers and the total viral RNA (RT-PCR) and concentration of infectious PRRSV (TCID50) in the air samples was determined. As measured by quantitative RT-PCR, PRRSV RNA was stable under the conditions evaluated in this study. Thus, a comparison of viral RNA and Rhodamine B dye, a physical tracer, found no significant difference in the slopes of the lines. Titers of infectious virus were plotted by time and the half-life (T1/2) of infectious PRRSV was calculated using linear regression analysis. An analysis of the results showed that aerosolized PRRSV was more stable at lower temperatures and/or lower relative humidity, but temperature had a greater effect on the T1/2 of PRRSV than relative humidity. Based on these results, an equation was derived to predict the T1/2 of infectious airborne PRRSV for any combination of environmental temperature and relative humidity.


Key words: aerosol / virus stability / PRRSV / relative humidity / temperature

Corresponding author: jjzimm@iastate.edu

© INRA, EDP Sciences 2007