Prepared Food Dec 2015/Jan 2016

Page 38

© iStockphoto.com/Brett_Lamb

The

vomit machine! ow do scientists study the

virus Collaborative for Outreach, Research,

to reflect different stages of digestion. A

transmission of viruses

and Education).

bacteriophage called MS2 — a virus that

from person to person?

To test the theory, researchers in Jaykus’s

Why, with a vomit ma-

lab needed a controlled way to observe and

chine of course!

study vomiting over and over again. They

Norovirus is a group of

needed a vomiting machine.

infects E. coli but is harmless to humans — was substituted for norovirus. After extensive testing of the machine, they began using it for formal experiments, which showed that the virus was indeed

more than 30 related viruses that can cause

Unsurprisingly, a vomiting machine is

vomiting and diarrhoea, with infections

not something that can be found on eBay,

sometimes requiring hospitalisation and

so the researchers had to design and build

And although the amount of MS2 aero-

occasionally causing death in vulnerable

their own. A graduate student from the civil,

solised as a percentage of total virus ‘vom-

groups such as the elderly.

aerosolised.

construction and environmental engineering

ited’ was relatively low (less than 0.3%),

About a quarter of ‘noro’ infections are

department provided the construction know-

vomit from infected people contains millions

obtained by consuming contaminated foods

how, while data on vomiting was provided

of particles, meaning the actual amount of

or water, but it is most often spread between

by a gastroenterologist.

virus particles aerosolised during a single

people in close contact with each other.

Working together, the researchers created

vomiting event ranges from only a few into the thousands, perhaps more.

A long-held theory is that norovirus can

a machine that is essentially a scaled-down

be ‘aerosolised’ through vomiting, meaning

version of the mouth, oesophagus and

“And that is enough to be problematic

that small particles containing norovirus can

stomach — made of tubes and a pressure

because it only takes a few, perhaps less

become airborne when someone throws up,

chamber that passes through a clay face

than 20, to make a susceptible person ill,”

transmitting directly to a nearby person or

to give it the correct vomiting angle. The

Jaykus said. “This machine may seem odd,

contaminating surfaces. (Fun fact: Noro

machine is designed to let researchers

but it’s helping us understand a disease that

can still be detected in dried vomit after

control the pressure and volume of the

affects millions of people. This is work that

six weeks.)

vomit, in order to mimic a range of natural

can help us prevent or contain the spread

But norovirus aerosolisation by vomiting

vomiting behaviours. The device is enclosed

of norovirus — and there’s nothing odd

had never been proven. Enter norovirus

in a sealed Plexiglas box and placed under

about that.”

expert Lee-Ann Jaykus, a professor of food

a biosafety hood.

science at North Carolina State University

Liquid solutions of different viscosities or

and scientific director of NoroCORE (Noro-

thicknesses were used as ‘artificial vomitus’

38 | PREPARED FOOD - Dec 2015/Jan 2016

The research was published in the PLOS ONE journal.

www.preparedfood.com.au


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