tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Open Forum Infect Dis
. 2025 Apr 1;12(4)
faf196.
doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaf196. eCollection 2025 Apr. Human Source Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Aerosol Transmission to Remote Sentinel Hamsters
Chad J Roy[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Michael R Barer[SUP] 2 3 [/SUP], Veronica Ueckermann[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Brandon Beddingfield[SUP] 1 [/SUP], David Cordier[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Bernard Fourie[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Richard Vincent[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Sego Dibobo[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Toby VanReenen[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Paul Jensen[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Oliva De Kock[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Elsabe De Kock[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Edward Nardell[SUP] 8 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Background: Bioaerosol-mediated transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) via building ventilation systems has yet to be convincingly demonstrated. We used the South African Airborne Infections Research (AIR) facility near Pretoria to study human-to-animal (H2A) transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in newly diagnosed patients. While the facility was built to study tuberculosis transmission, this was its first adaptation to study H2A virus transmission.
Methods: Patients with clinically confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 were housed for up to 4 days in in the AIR facility with continuously exhausting patient ward air to hamsters housed in animal exposure rooms. After a 3-week exposure period, animals were held for an additional week to allow for antibody development. Animal sera were analyzed for anti-spike and plaque reduction activities and lung samples for pathology.
Results: Seven patients provided ≥400 in-residence hours over a 17-day period. Pair-housed naive golden Syrian hamsters (n = 216) received continuous exposure to mixed patient ward exhaust. Serum analyses revealed anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G in 58% of animals tested. Plaque reduction assays on 7 high-titer serum samples revealed neutralizing activity.
Conclusions: These results support the concept that viral bioaerosols generated from patients remain infectious over long-distance transport through a building ventilation system. The seroconversion among sentinel animals supports the long-held belief that airborne infections manifest as a stochastic rather than deterministic event that is subject to a threshold dose effect. Further confirmatory studies are necessary to characterize the relationship between the bioaerosol delivered and the infections that result in this controlled H2A transmission model.
Keywords: COVID-19; hamster; infectious aerosols; infectious disease aerobiology; respiratory transmission.
. 2025 Apr 1;12(4)
faf196.doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaf196. eCollection 2025 Apr. Human Source Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Aerosol Transmission to Remote Sentinel Hamsters
Chad J Roy[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Michael R Barer[SUP] 2 3 [/SUP], Veronica Ueckermann[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Brandon Beddingfield[SUP] 1 [/SUP], David Cordier[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Bernard Fourie[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Richard Vincent[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Sego Dibobo[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Toby VanReenen[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Paul Jensen[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Oliva De Kock[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Elsabe De Kock[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Edward Nardell[SUP] 8 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 40256039
- PMCID: PMC12006787
- DOI: 10.1093/ofid/ofaf196
Background: Bioaerosol-mediated transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) via building ventilation systems has yet to be convincingly demonstrated. We used the South African Airborne Infections Research (AIR) facility near Pretoria to study human-to-animal (H2A) transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in newly diagnosed patients. While the facility was built to study tuberculosis transmission, this was its first adaptation to study H2A virus transmission.
Methods: Patients with clinically confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 were housed for up to 4 days in in the AIR facility with continuously exhausting patient ward air to hamsters housed in animal exposure rooms. After a 3-week exposure period, animals were held for an additional week to allow for antibody development. Animal sera were analyzed for anti-spike and plaque reduction activities and lung samples for pathology.
Results: Seven patients provided ≥400 in-residence hours over a 17-day period. Pair-housed naive golden Syrian hamsters (n = 216) received continuous exposure to mixed patient ward exhaust. Serum analyses revealed anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G in 58% of animals tested. Plaque reduction assays on 7 high-titer serum samples revealed neutralizing activity.
Conclusions: These results support the concept that viral bioaerosols generated from patients remain infectious over long-distance transport through a building ventilation system. The seroconversion among sentinel animals supports the long-held belief that airborne infections manifest as a stochastic rather than deterministic event that is subject to a threshold dose effect. Further confirmatory studies are necessary to characterize the relationship between the bioaerosol delivered and the infections that result in this controlled H2A transmission model.
Keywords: COVID-19; hamster; infectious aerosols; infectious disease aerobiology; respiratory transmission.