Research Article
Taha Kumosani, Youssef Obeid,
Abstract
The aim of this research is to standardize the conditions of a constructed impinger, enabling to evaluate quantitatively the anti-aerosolized H9N2 avian influenza virus (AIV) activity by vapors of a chemically-characterized essential oil blend. The standardization resulted in 100% recovery of the aerosolized H9N2 virus when the impinger’s conditions were set at aerosolized viral particles count of 1.2 × 106/c.c. of Tryptose Phosphate Broth, temperature of 35°C, average micelle diameter of 44.3 μm, negative pressure of 6 mbar, air-suspension time of H9N2 virus of 1.5 min, collection chamber and its transport medium volumes of 250 cc and 25 cc, respectively. The adoption of the above standardized conditions, with an inclusion of vaporized essential oil (EO) at 1.0 × 10-4 μl EO/μl volume of the pulverization chamber, and contact times of 0.5-1.5 min with the H9N2 virus, resulted in 84.6% reduction in viral titer at 1.5 min contact time, compared to the control virus, deprived from contact with vaporized EO (P<0.05). This new finding will help in future investigations related to application of safe essential oils in reduction of air-suspended influenza virus in closed systems harboring domestic animals and human populations.