Hand-to-Hand Transmission of Rhinovirus Colds

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Abstract
Rhinovirus was transmitted from experimentally infected volunteers (donors) to susceptible recipients and the efficiencies of spread by hand-to-hand contact and large- and small-particle aerosols were compared. Transmission of infection was very efficient by the hand route: 11 of 15 hand-contact exposures initiated infection, compared with 1 of 12 large-particle (P < 0.005) and none of 10 small-particle (P < 0.005) exposures. Rhinovirus was present in 9 of 18 (50%) nasal swab specimens, 28 of 43 (65%) hand rinses and 7 of 18 (39%) saliva specimens of donors; geometric mean titers of positive specimens were 101.5, 101.4, and 101.2 median tissue culture infectious dose/ml (TCID50/ml), respectively. Rhinovirus was present in 20 of 43 (46%) recipient hand rinses, with a geometric mean titer of 101.4TCID50/ml. Virus on donors'' hands was transferred to recipients'' fingers during 20 of 28 (71%) 10-s hand-contact exposures. Hand contact/self-inoculation may be an important natural route of rhinovirus transmission.

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