Airflow Determines Natural Airborne Transmission of Tuberculosis in a Guinea Pig Model.

ABSTRACT: Tuberculosis (TB) spreads through the air when Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) passes from infected to susceptible hosts, yet the environmental, biophysical and microbial factors governing this process remain poorly understood. In the early twentieth century, Perla and Lurie used guinea pigs to demonstrate natural airborne transmission of Mtb, but such studies have not been revisited in the modern biosafety era. Here, we developed an aerodynamically-optimized guinea pig housing system that models natural, airborne, animal-to-animal Mtb transmission under biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) containment. Iterative engineering and particle transport experiments revealed that airflow is a critical determinant of transmission efficiency. Static housing and excessive unidirectional ventilation bot

SUBMITTER: Naqvi KF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12636444 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature