Aerosol stability of bovine adenovirus type 3.

The WBR-1 strain of bovine adenovirus type 3 was suspended in Eagle's medium or bovine nasal secretion and atomized into a rotating drum at temperatures of 6 degrees C or 32 degrees C and relative humidities of 30% or 90%. Impinger samples of the aerosols were collected seven minutes, one, two and three hours postgeneration, and titrated for infectivity in embryonic bovine kidney cell cultures. Under certain conditions of temperature and relative humidity, the virus was more stable in aerosols of Eagle's medium than in nasal secretion. The bovine adenovirus was usually inactivated more rapidly at 30% relative humidity than at 90% relative humidity and during aging of the aerosols the virus was inactivated more rapidly at 32 degrees C than at 6 degrees C.