Aerosol Transmission of Rhinovirus Colds

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Abstract
Rhinovirus infections may spread by aerosol, direct contact, or indirect contact involving environmental objects. We examined aerosol and indirect contact in transmission of rhinovirus type 16 colds between laboratory-infected men (donors) and susceptible men (recipients) who played cards together for 12 hr. In three experiments the infection rate of restrained recipients (10 [56%] of 18), who could not touch their faces and could only have been infected by aerosols, and that of unrestrained recipients (12 [67%] of 18), who could have been infected by aerosol, by direct contact, or by indirect fomite contact, was not significantly different (χ2 = 0.468, P = .494). In a fourth experiment, transmission via fomites heavily used for 12 hr by eight donors wasthe only possible route of spread, and no transmissions occurred among 12 recipients (P < .001 by two-tailed Fisher's exact test). These results suggest that contrary to current opinion, rhinovirus transmission, at least in adults, occurs chiefly by the aerosol route.

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