Dispersal of Staphylococcus aureus into the air associated with a rhinovirus infection.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether healthy adult nasal carriers of Staphylococcus aureus can disperse S. aureus into the air after rhinovirus infection.


METHODS
We investigated the "cloud" phenomenon among adult nasal carriers of S. aureus experimentally infected with a rhinovirus. Eleven volunteers were studied for 16 days in an airtight chamber wearing street clothes, sterile garb, or sterile garb plus surgical mask; rhinovirus inoculation occurred on day 2. Daily quantitative air, nasal, and skin cultures for S. aureus; cold symptom assessment; and nasal rhinovirus cultures were performed.


METHODS
Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.


METHODS
Wake Forest University undergraduate or graduate students who had persistent nasal carriage of S. aureus for 4 or 8 weeks.


RESULTS
After rhinovirus inoculation, dispersal of S. aureus into the air increased 2-fold with peak increases up to 34-fold. Independent predictors of S. aureus dispersal included the time period after rhinovirus infection and wearing street clothes (P < .05). Wearing barrier garb but not a mask decreased dispersal of S. aureus into the air (P < .05).


CONCLUSIONS
Virus-induced dispersal of S. aureus into the air may have an important role in the transmission of S. aureus and other bacteria.
Bassetti
Stefano
S
Section on Infectious Diseases, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.
Bischoff
Werner E
WE
Walter
Mark
M
Bassetti-Wyss
Barbara A
BA
Mason
Lori
L
Reboussin
Beth A
BA
D'Agostino
Ralph B
RB
Gwaltney
Jack M
JM
Pfaller
Michael A
MA
Sherertz
Robert J
RJ
D000328:Adult; D000391:Air Microbiology; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001273:Atmosphere Exposure Chambers; D002353:Carrier State; D003139:Common Cold / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology; D012229:Rhinovirus / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D012867:Skin / Q000382:microbiology; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification*
D000393:Air Pollutants