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Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of morbidity in both children and adults. Infection control practices have assumed that RSV spreads principally via exposure to large droplets of virus-containing fluids and contact with contaminated surfaces. To examine how well RSV spreads via aerosolized particles, researchers at a U.K. hospital collected aerosols from places where infants and children with RSV bronchiolitis were cared for.
RSV was found in aerosols obtained within 1 meter of 23 of 24 patients being nursed in the general pediatric ward. RSV concentrations were significantly higher in aerosols from open bays than in those from individual cubicles (mean, 315,189 vs. 60,047 plaque-forming units). In both areas, a substantial…