Design and Validation with Influenza A Virus of an Aerosol Transmission Chamber for Ferrets

Turgeon, Nathalie; Hamelin, Marie-Ève; Verreault, Daniel; Lévesque, Ariane; Rhéaume, Chantal; Carbonneau, Julie; Checkmahomed, Liva; Girard, Matthieu; Boivin, Guy; Duchaine, Caroline

This paper describes a chamber system that can be used for airborne disease transmission studies. The system is airtight and particle size distribution through the system is satisfactory (no significant difference was found for particles <420 nm). The particle separator D 50 can be modulated between 5.07 and 7.8 µm by changing the airflow. To further reduce the D 50 , plates with smaller holes could replace the actual hole plates of the particle separator. This would lead to more accelerated particles and, therefore, more particles being captured by the impaction plates. Ferrets can be used as models for the study of many mammalian viruses, including filovirus [18] , respiratory syncytial virus [19] and Morbillivirus [20] . Therefore, the studies that can be conducted in this chamber system are not limited to influenza viruses. Moreover, this cage system can be adapted to accommodate other animals like rats or rabbits. Indeed, smaller, regular cages can be placed inside the ventilated airtight cages.