The role of relative humidity and aerosol composition in airborne respiratory virus survival

This thesis presents and tests a novel hypothesis that attempts to predict the relative humidity (RH) dependent survival of airborne respiratory viruses in protein-enriched saline aerosols. The hypothesis proposed that virus-laden respiratory aerosols exist in either an effloresced (solid) or deliquesced (liquid) state, depending on the ambient air RH and that the survival of viruses embedded in such aerosols changes with that state. Experiments confirmed as predicted, that rhinovirus and influenza virus exhibited a V-shaped surviving fraction dependence on RH. Implications concerning the survival of these viruses under seasonal conditions are discussed along with strategies to control indoor airborne infection