Abstract
In human and veterinary medicine, there have been multiple reports of pathogens being airborne under experimental and field conditions, highlighting the importance of this transmission route. These studies shed light on different aspects related to airborne transmission such as the capability of pathogens becoming airborne, the ability of pathogens to remain infectious while airborne, the role played by environmental conditions in pathogen dissemination, and pathogen strain as an interfering factor in airborne transmission. Data showing that airborne pathogens originating from an infectious individual or population can infect susceptible hosts are scarce, especially under field conditions. Furthermore, even though disease outbreak investigations have generated important information identifying potential ports of entry of pathogens into populations, these investigations do not necessarily yield clear answers on mechanisms by which pathogens have been introduced into populations. In swine, the aerosol transmission route gained popularity during the late 1990’s as suspicions of airborne transmission of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) were growing. Several studies were conducted within the last 15 years contributing to the understanding of this transmission route; however, questions still remain. This paper reviews the current knowledge and identifies knowledge gaps related to PRRSV airborne transmission.
Highlights
Andréia Gonçalves Arruda 1, *, Steve Tousignant 2, Juan Sanhueza 3, Carles Vilalta 3, Zvonimir Poljak 4, Montserrat Torremorell 3, Carmen Alonso 5 and Cesar A Corzo 3
Transmission of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) continues to be an important area of research as with current knowledge and biosecurity procedures, herds continue to break highlighting the fact that there are still opportunities to further understand pathways of PRRSV introduction to herds
Air filtration has shown to reduce the risk of PRRSV outbreaks, which has rapidly been adopted in the United States (US) swine industry
Summary
Airborne transmission of infectious agents is an important topic in both human and animal medicine that has received great attention over the past years [1,2,3,4]. For the remainder of this review, aerosol transmission is defined as the passage of microorganisms directly from an infectious individual to a susceptible receiver through aerosols (animal-level definition), which are particles expelled through exhaling, sneezing or coughing; or as the transmission of PRRSV from herd to herd by a virus travelling through the air (herd-level definition) [10]. These particles vary in size and their ability to remain airborne for longer periods of time and may result in direct infection of a susceptible individual [3,8]. The sections of this review paper will examine peer-reviewed publications on the ability of PRRSV to become airborne, and its detection and transmission via air over different distances in order to identify evidence and knowledge gaps on the subject of aerosol transmission of PRRSV
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