The SARS-CoV-2 transmission riddle - Part 8

The contribution of the University of Virginia to the study of coronaviridae and rhinoviridae.

Head of the University of Virginia (UVA) group, Dr Jack Gwaltney Jr’s research on acute respiratory infections was prodigious, meticulous in its methods and manifestly helped our understanding of SARs-COV-2.  Although it is difficult to determine the most important publications, we selected four that inform the transmission riddle. 

First, Handley, Wenzel and Gwaltney observed the behaviour of 25 adults with common colds. They discovered that Rhinovirus could be transferred from the nose to the hands of infected people and back to the nose or their conjunctiva. In addition, infected people could (but not always) transmit the virus by repeatedly touching non-infected volunteers’ fingers or face. 

Second, the UVA team conducted an 8-year study of Coronavirus 229E and OC43 in 433 working adults in the winter and spring from 1963 to 1970. Serological testing was used to confirm infection; it required a rise in antibodies during the acute phase of the illness and in the recovery period (so-c…