Quantifying Environmental Variables Affecting Airborne Influenza Transmission

量化影响空气传播流感传播的环境变量

• 批准号: 8963425
• 负责人: Nicole M. Bouvier
• 金额: $ 39.43万
• 依托单位: ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-11-05 至 2019-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8963425
• 关键词: Address; Aerosols; Affect; Air; Animal Model; Animals; Blood Circulation; California; Cavia; Climate; Complex; Data; Data Set; Dependence; Deposition; Disease Outbreaks; Dryness; Engineering; Environment; Epidemiology; Exhalation; Goals; Health; Housing; Human; Humidity; Image; Imaging technology; Individual; Influenza; Investigation; Laboratories; Laboratory Study; Liquid substance; Mechanics; Modeling; Physicians; Physiology; Population; Positioning Attribute; Precipitation; Probability; Production; Public Health; Research; Research Design; Research Personnel; Resolution; Respiratory System; Respiratory tract structure; Risk; Rodent; Science; Scientist; Site; Social Behavior; Source; Speed; System; Techniques; Temperature; Theoretical model; Time; Universities; Viral; Viral Load result; Virus; Work; authority; base; design; experience; flu transmission; health economics; improved; in vivo; influenzavirus; innovation; laboratory experiment; medical schools; novel; pandemic influenza; particle; physical science; public health intervention; research study; respiratory; respiratory virus; seasonal influenza; skills; therapy design; transmission process; viral transmission; virology

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Quantifying Environmental Variables Affecting Airborne Influenza Transmission In most temperate climates, influenza prevails in cold, dry winter months. However, in some temperate and tropical regions, influenza epidemicity is correlated with extremes of precipitation, not dryness, and can circulate at low levels essentially year-round or appear in uni- or bi-modal annual outbreaks. How environmental variables affect influenza circulation in the human population remains poorly understood, in part because the science behind airborne respiratory virus transmission crosses disciplinary boundaries between the biomedical and physical sciences, encompassing fields as diverse as virology, physiology, epidemiology, fluid mechanics, aerosol science, and climatology. Here we seek to understand how individual environmental variables - such as temperature, humidity, and airflow - cumulatively affect the transmission probability of influenza viruses in a representative mammalian experimental system. The theoretical framework behind these studies is a novel quantitative model, based upon data gathered in experimental guinea pigs, which attempts to characterize the impact of the environment on influenza virus transmission between infected and susceptible hosts. This project bridges the gap between virology and engineering in bringing together three co- investigators with relevant and complementary skill sets: Dr. Nicole Bouvier, a physician-scientist with extensive experience in the transmission of influenza viruses among guinea pigs; Dr. William Ristenpart, an engineer with expertise in the application of high-speed imaging technologies to investigations of complex fluid dynamics; and Dr. Anthony Wexler, an authority on aerosol transport who has developed novel techniques for high-resolution imaging of aerosol deposition in the rodent respiratory tract. Our preliminary theoretical modeling has generated innovative interpretations of the experimental data, yielding three testable hypotheses, which form the basis of this proposal: (1) Influenza virus transmission probability will decrease with increased airflow speed, (2) transmission probability will decrease with the degree of turbulence, and (3) transmission probability will increase with the time integral of the viral concentration within the inoculated animal. Rigorously controlled laboratory studies, designed to isolate a single variable for analysis while others are held constant, will provide a quantitative framework for understanding the cumulative effects of temperature, humidity, airflow velocity, turbulence, and position on the transmission of human influenza viruses in a relevant animal model. Quantifying these environmental variables, individually and cumulatively, will enable their extrapolation to larger environments and time scales, with the potential to transform our understanding of the epidemiology of seasonal and pandemic influenza.

描述（由申请人提供）：量化影响大多数温带气候中空气流感流感传播的环境变量，流感在寒冷，干燥的冬季盛行。但是，在某些温带和热带地区，流感流行与降水的极端相关，而不是干燥，并且可以在低水平上循环 全年或在单模式或双模式的年爆发中出现。环境变量如何影响人口中的流感循环仍然知之甚少，部分是因为空气呼吸道病毒传播背后的科学跨越了生物医学和物理科学之间的学科界限，包括病毒学，生理学，生理学，流行病学，流动性机械师，气溶胶科学和气候科学和攀岩等多样性的领域。在这里，我们试图了解各个环境变量（例如温度，湿度和气流）如何累积影响代表性哺乳动物实验系统中流感病毒的传播概率。这些研究背后的理论框架是基于实验性豚鼠中收集的数据的新型定量模型，该模型试图表征环境对感染和易感宿主之间流感病毒传播的影响。该项目弥合了病毒学与工程学之间的差距，以汇集三名具有相关和互补技能的合伙人：妮可·布维尔（Nicole Bouvier）博士，妮可·布维尔（Nicole Bouvier）博士，他是一名医生 - 科学家，在豚鼠中流感病毒传播方面具有丰富的经验； William Ristenpart博士是一名在应用高速成像技术来调查复杂流体动力学方面的专业知识的工程师； Anthony Wexler博士是气溶胶运输机构，他开发了用于啮齿动物呼吸道中气溶胶沉积的高分辨率成像的新技术。我们的初步理论模型已经对实验数据产生了创新的解释，得出了三个可检验的假设，这构成了该建议的基础：（1）流感病毒传播概率随空气流速的提高而降低，（2）传播概率将随着湍流的程度而降低，（2）随着湍流的程度，（3）传播概率会在该病毒率中增加。严格控制的实验室研究，旨在隔离单个变量以进行分析，而其他实验室则保持恒定，将提供一个定量框架，以理解温度，湿度，气流速度，湍流和位置对人类流感病毒在相关动物模型中传播的累积影响。单独和累积地量化这些环境变量将使它们的外推到更大的环境和时间尺度，并有可能改变我们对季节性和大流行性流感流行病学的理解。