A(H1N1)pdm09 influenza viruses replicating in ferret upper or lower respiratory tract differed in onward transmission potential by air
Chenyi Xie, Wen Su, Sin Fun Sia, Ka-Tim Choy, Steven Morrell, Jie Zhou, Malik Peiris, Jesse Bloom, Hui-Ling Yen academic.oup.com/jid/advance-ar…
Background
A(H1N1)pdm09 influenza viruses replicate efficiently in respiratory epithelia and are transmitted via respiratory droplets and aerosols expelled by infected hosts. The relative onward transmission potential of influenza viruses replicating in the upper and lower
respiratory epithelial cells has not been fully defined.
Methods
Wild-type and barcoded A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses that differed by 2 synonymous mutations per gene segment were inoculated into ferrets via intra-nasal and intra-tracheal routes. Naïve recipients were exposed to the
exhaled breath of inoculated donors for 8 hours on day 2 post-inoculation. Onward transmission potential of wild-type and barcoded genotypes were monitored by next generation sequencing.
Results
Transmissible airborne particles were respired from the upper but not the lower
respiratory epithelial cells of donor ferrets. There was limited mixing of viral populations replicating in the upper and lower respiratory tissues.
Conclusions
The ferret upper respiratory epithelium was mapped as the anatomic site that generated influenza virus-laden
particles mediating onward transmission by air. Our results suggest that vaccines and antivirals should aim to reduce viral loads in the upper respiratory tract for prevention of influenza transmission.
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Since you are reading all about SARS, check this out. No health care who wore N95s during SARS caught it.
Bottom row, third entry. First col is did not develop SARS, second is they did.
Raboud, Janet, ...
*** Bonnie Henry, ...
et al. ‘Risk Factors for SARS Transmission from Patients Requiring Intubation: A Multicentre Investigation in Toronto, Canada’. PLOS ONE 5, no. 5 (19 May 2010): e10717. doi.org/10.1371/journa….
There is something gloriously vindicative that our best weapon against SARS-CoV-2 might be molnupiravir, which causes the virus replication to suck in the wrong molecule and replicate improperly, ruining its mRNA.
WHAT YOU DO TO US WE WILL DO BACK TO YOU, VIRUS THING
And, for those wanting to do the learnings:
Kabinger, Florian, et al ‘Mechanism of Molnupiravir-Induced SARS-CoV-2 Mutagenesis’. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 28, no. 9 (September 2021): 740–46. doi.org/10.1038/s41594….
Malone, Brandon, and Elizabeth A. Campbell. ‘Molnupiravir: Coding for Catastrophe’. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 28, no. 9 (September 2021): 706–8. doi.org/10.1038/s41594….
Listen, we need to be calm and rational and follow the evidence.
We need to weigh the danger to a possibly fatal virus, which kills you by slowly strangling your ability to breathe and turning your lungs to gelatine, with the fact that many HCW find masks hot.
None of YOUR studies are any good because they are not randomized controlled trials, with suitable sample sizes, so we do not know masks work.
On the flip side, we know masks don't work because they were implemented in ImagineLand and cases still went up, as it said in the newspaper, thus proving my point.