Infection Control News: How Does the Flu Really Spread?

For years, both the scientific community and the general public have operated under a very stern assumption… The flu can be transmitted to someone just by being in the same room. Just sharing the same air with someone who has the flu is a recipe for contagion. It was always envisioned as a kind of cloud or airborne pathogen that migrates through the air. However, a recent study shows that this may not be the case. Which means that an assumption the world has operated under for years could be turned on its head.

In this article, we’d like to look at this study. The study, discussed in an article from Technology Networks, is a first of its kind clinical trial. The trial that investigated how the flu truly spreads from person to person.

The Study

In a recent study published in PLOS Pathogens, with an article in Technology Networks, researchers from the University of Maryland conducted a first-of-its-kind clinical trial titled EMIT-2. The study was led by a team of researchers, with two notable names being Dr. Donald Milton, a professor at the University of Maryland Schools of Public Health and Engineering. Along with post-doctoral researcher Dr. Jianyu Lai.

The trial took place in a controlled hotel environment, where naturally infected flu patients made up of college students spent days interacting with healthy middle-aged volunteers. The kicker, however, is that despite the closed quarters environment and constant interaction, not a single healthy volunteer got infected. This staggering revelation revealed that the airborne transmission of the influenza virus is much different than we’ve always believed.

It produced a few significant insights, with one main point being: coughing is the critical factor of “contagiousness”. Lai said specifically, “Our data suggests key things that increase the likelihood of flu transmission – coughing is a major one.”

According to Lai, the infected carried high levels of the virus in their noses. But despite that, they coughed very infrequently. Which led the research team to conclude that simply breathing or talking didn’t put enough of the virus to the air to infect someone else. Especially when talking or simple breathing didn’t have the same force as a cough. He also suggested that middle-aged people are less susceptible to the influenza virus than younger adults.

Previously, anyone who had the virus was treated as contagious. But when it was reviewed through a new lens, it highlights that the true contagion factor comes from the physical act of expelling the virus into the air.

The Controlled Environment

The environment in which these participants interacted also played a major role in preventing the spread of the disease. Dr. Lai has explained that the study rooms were equipped with heaters and dehumidifiers that caused the air to mix rapidly and constantly. This rapid air movement effectively “diluted” the small amounts of virus that were present in the air.

The research team used a quarantined floor of a hotel in Baltimore to study the influenza transmission through the air. The subjects consisted of 5 people confirmed to have the flu, contrasted with 11 healthy volunteers. And the study took place across two “cohorts” in 2023 and 2024 according to the article.

The participants lived for 2 weeks on an isolated floor in the hotel, and simulated daily activities and interaction to foster results. They initiated in things like basic conversation and ice breakers, physical activities like yoga and dancing. And the test even had the infected subjects handing over objects like pens, computers and microphones to the other participants.

The researchers measured a wide range of parameters, like symptom monitoring, daily nasal swabs, saliva samples and even blood samples to test for antibodies. Participants’ breath was also measured every day using the aptly named Gesundheit II machine created by Dr. Milton and Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

How Can You Properly Stop the Spread?

Milton also says that finding ways to control the flu outbreak is a public health priority. With up to 1 billion people catching the flu globally every year, and millions of cases reported in the U.S. alone. All of the insights and results garnered from these studies now lead to the big question at the end… “If this is what the study found, then how do you stop the spread during flu season?”

Dr. Milton actually offered an insight of his own, saying: “Being up close, face-to-face with other people indoors where the air isn’t moving much seems to be the most risky thing – and it’s something we all tend to do a lot. Our results suggest that portable air purifiers that stir up the air as well as clean it could be a big help. But if you are really close and someone is coughing, the best way to stay safe is to wear a mask, especially the N95.”

Final Thoughts

The flu is a formidable opponent, but it isn’t an invisible force that strikes at random; it follows specific physical rules. With new evidence showing that the risk lies in the force of potential coughs produced by the infected, we can now take a more calculated approach. There are different ways to precent flu infection, with the lower end being to just step away from those who are coughing, even masking up in a more high-risk environment with an N95. Or if you can find a way to use an air purifier to stir the air and try to dilute the virus in your own environment, all the better.

Staying up to date and properly informed is a good way to fight back against anything. But this study shows the importance of repeated testing and furthering research. We believed that the flu behaved one way for years, yet this study showed that there’s always more to be found. And now this study and its results give us an even better idea of how to not only formulate new infection control practices around the spread of influenza… But more ways for the general public to properly decrease the spread of a virus that affects billions of people each year.

If you’d like to read the article on the study from Technology Networks, you can find it here. If you have any questions about personal protection equipment like gloves, N95 masks and isolation gowns, sterilization or anything else, give us a call at 704-966-1650 and we’ll help you find what you need.

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The article with coverage on the study from Technology Networks can be found here.

You can check out our collection of Nitrile Gloves for personal protection on our website here.

You can find more info on our Halyard N95 Respirator Masks on our site here.

You can find more info on Halyard’s Basics Isolation Gowns on our site here.

Our various air purifier offerings can be found on our site here.