Assessing the risk of downwind spread of avian influenza virus via airborne particles from an urban wholesale poultry market

Publication date: January 2018
Source:Building and Environment, Volume 127
Author(s): Jianjian Wei, Jie Zhou, Kitling Cheng, Jie Wu, Zhifeng Zhong, Yingchao Song, Changwen Ke, Hui-Ling Yen, Yuguo Li
Interspecies transmissions of avian influenza viruses (AIV) occur at the human-poultry interface, among which the live poultry markets (LPMs) are easily assessed by urban residents. Thousands of live poultry from different farms arrive daily at wholesale markets before being sold to retail markets. We assessed the risk of AIV downwind spread via airborne particles from a representative wholesale market in Guangzhou. Air samples were collected using the cyclone-based NIOSH bioaerosol samplers at different locations inside a wholesale market, and viral RNA and avian 18S RNA were quantified using quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling was performed to investigate the AIV spread pattern. Viral RNA was readily detected from 19 out of 21 air sampling events, predominantly from particles larger than 1 μm. The concentration of viral RNA detected at the poultry holding area was 4.4 × 10⁵ copies/m³ and was as high as 2.6 × 10⁴ copies/m³ 100 m downwind. A high concentration of avian 18S RNA (2.5 × 10⁸ copies/m³) detected at the poultry holding area was used for assessing the potential spread of avian influenza virus during outbreak situations. CFD modeling indicated the combined effect of wind direction and surrounding buildings on the spread of virus and a slow decay rate of the virus in the air in the downwind direction. Because of the large volume of poultry trade daily, wholesale markets located in urban areas may pose considerable AIV infection risk to neighboring residents via wind spread, even in the absence of direct contact with poultry.