Short-Duration Exposure and the Transmission of Rhinoviral Colds

Abstract

Transmission of infection with rhinovirus type 55 was attempted under natural circumstances of interaction among 26 experimentally infected donors and 33 antibody-free (titer, 50 (50% tissue culture infectious dose) in the nose, 2,260 TCID₅₀ on the tongue, and 11,000 TCID₅₀ on the external nares. Rhinoviral infections are difficult to transmit by short-term natural exposure, perhaps because the agent must be present in overwhelming numbers to reach susceptible mucosal cells.