Ewww! Vomit-bot tests spread of vomit and norovirus

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

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28063-watch-vomiting-machine-simulate-how-stomach-bugs-spread/

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