Human Exposure to Particulate Matter Potentially Contaminated with Sin Nombre Virus

• Published in: EcoHealth Vol. 10; no. 2; pp. 159 - 165
• Main Authors: Richardson, Kyle S, Kuenzi, Amy, Douglass, Richard J, Hart, Julie, Carver, Scott
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer-Verlag 01-06-2013; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Airborne particulates; Animal Ecology; Animals; breathing; buildings; Contamination; Disease Reservoirs - virology; Ecosystems; Environment; Environmental Health; Exposure; Feces - virology; Hantavirus; Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome - transmission; Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome - virology; Humans; Inhalation; Inhalation Exposure - adverse effects; Inhalation Exposure - analysis; Matter & antimatter; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mice; Microbiology; Montana; mortality; Original Contribution; Particulate matter; Particulate Matter - adverse effects; Particulate Matter - analysis; particulates; Peromyscus - virology; Public Health; respiratory system; Respiratory tract; Risk factors; Rodent Diseases - transmission; Rodent Diseases - virology; Seasons; Sin Nombre virus; Sin Nombre virus - isolation & purification; Sin Nombre virus - pathogenicity; Spring; Summer; Viruses; walking; Water and Health; Zoonoses - transmission; Zoonoses - virology; Montana; North America; Sin Nombre virus; Exposure risk; Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome; Deer mouse; Particulate matter
• ISSN: 1612-9202; 1612-9210
• DOI: 10.1007/s10393-013-0830-x

The most common mechanism for human exposure to hantaviruses throughout North America is inhalation of virally contaminated particulates. However, risk factors associated with exposure to particulates potentially contaminated with hantaviruses are generally not well understood. In North America, Sin Nombre virus (SNV) is the most common hantavirus that infects humans, causing hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which has a significant mortality rate (approximately 35%). We investigated human exposure to particulate matter and evaluated the effects of season, location (sylvan and peridomestic environment), and activity (walking and sweeping) on generation of particulates at the breathing zone (1.5 m above the ground). We found greater volumes of small inhalable particulates during the spring and summer compared to the fall and winter seasons and greater volumes of small inhalable particulates produced in peridomestic, compared to sylvan, environments. Also, greater volumes of particulates were generated at the breathing zone while walking compared to sweeping. Results suggest that more aerosolized particles were generated during the spring and summer months. Our findings suggest that simply moving around in buildings is a significant source of human exposure to particulates, potentially contaminated with SNV, during spring and summer seasons. These findings could be advanced by investigation of what particle sizes SNV is most likely to attach to, and where in the respiratory tract humans become infected.