Relative humidity (RH) can affect influenza A virus (IAV) survival. However, the mechanism driving this relationship is unknown. We hypothesized that the RH-dependent survival of airborne IAV could be predicted by the efflorescence/deliquescence divergent infectivity (EDDI) hypothesis. We determined three distinct RH response zones based on the hygroscopic growth factor of carrier aerosols. These zones were classified as the super-deliquescence zone (RH > 75%), the hysteresis zone (43% < RH < 75%), and the sub-efflorescence zone (RH < 43%). We added IAV (H3N2) to protein-enriched saline and aerosolized it into sub-efflorescence or super-deliquescence zone air, yielding aerosols in the effloresced or noneffloresced state, respectively. We then adjusted the RH to an ergonomically comfortable RH (60%). Fifteen minutes post-aerosolization, the surviving fractions (arithmetic means ± standard errors) of virus were higher in effloresced aerosols (9.5 ± 0.5%) than in non-effloresced aerosols (0.40 ± 0.05%). A virus suspension was also aerosolized directly into air within the super-deliquescence, hysteresis, and sub-efflorescence zones to assess the impact of the sudden change in RH from an initial 100% saturated RH to these zonal ranges. Fifteen minutes post-aerosolization, the surviving fractions were 3 ± 0.4%, 2 ± 0.1%, and 12 ± 2%, respectively. Survival following gradual adaptation to the hysteresis zone RH range was sustained in effloresced and reduced in the non-effloresced aerosols. The EDDI model predicted the survival of IAV under seasonal conditions, offering strategies for controlling indoor air infection.

中文翻译：

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空气传播的甲型流感病毒的湿度依赖性生存：控制空气传播的病毒的实际含义。

相对湿度（RH）会影响甲型流感病毒（IAV）的存活。但是，驱动这种关系的机制尚不清楚。我们假设可以通过风化/潮解发散性传染性（EDDI）假设来预测机载IAV的RH依赖生存期。我们根据载体气溶胶的吸湿性生长因子确定了三个不同的RH反应区。这些区域分为超潮解带（RH> 75％），滞后带（43％<RH <75％）和亚花期带（RH <43％）。我们将IAV（H3N2）添加到富含蛋白质的盐水中，并将其气雾化为亚风化或超风化带空气，分别产生处于风化或非风化状态的气溶胶。然后，我们将RH调整到符合人体工程学的舒适RH（60％）。雾化后十五分钟，在风化气雾剂中，病毒的存活分数（算术平均值±标准误差）高于非风化气雾剂中的病毒存活率（9.5±0.5％）（0.40±0.05％）。还可以将病毒悬浮液直接喷雾到超潮解区，滞后区和亚开花区中的空气中，以评估RH的突然变化（从最初的100％饱和RH到这些区域范围）的影响。雾化后15分钟，存活分数分别为3±0.4％，2±0.1％和12±2％。渐渐适应滞后区RH范围后的存活率在除花气雾剂中得以维持，而在未除花气雾剂中则降低了。EDDI模型预测了IAV在季节性条件下的生存，提供了控制室内空气感染的策略。