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| newscientist.com |
Scientists have
developed a vomit projectile machine robot – called vomit-bot – that simulates
a person vomiting in order to test the spread of vomit. It also helps to
provide evidence of how stomach bugs spread after someone has spewed (New
Scientist, August 19, 2015).
Lee-Ann Jaykus, of the
North Carolina State University in Raleigh, created the robot mouth and machinery
– the vomit-bot. It is quarter of the size of a real face and mouth, and it can
vomit, and vomit, and vomit, with ‘exacting regularity.’ The vomit can be
modified to the amount, thickness, and pressure of the fluid that the machine
ejects. It vomits into a glass cage, not onto the laboratory floor!
Researchers have used
the machine to test the spread of vomit and whether it can project norovirus
into the air, and if so, how much and how far does the virus spread. Norovirus
is contagious and is responsible for 21 million infections each year in
America.
Instead of testing the
real virus, researchers used the safe, harmless virus MS2 bacteriophage. They
wanted to test if it carries to other people through the air – i.e. whether it
is airborne.
After tests of
‘forceful faux-vomiting’ the researchers found that only about one in 5000
virus particles were airborne (in spray). But this is still thousands of virus
particles per vomit. And this can infect other people.
Norovirus – often
called the winter vomiting bug – can remain virulent for weeks, so anyone
touching the contaminated areas is at risk of contracting a viral
gastroenteritis infection. It affects people of all ages, and can cause over
200,000 deaths globally each year (generally in less developed countries).
The next stage of
testing is to investigate how long virus particles can survive and travel in
the air.
Journal reference: PLoS One, DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0134277
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