Virology: Current Research

Seasonality OF Respiratory Viruses Including SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

N. Chandra Wickramasinghe*, Edward J. Steele, Ananda Nimalasuriya, Reginald M. Gorczynski, Gensuke Tokoro, Robert Temple and Milton Wainwright

We propose that a reservoir of respiratory viruses in clumps of micro-sized dust exists in tropospheric clouds from which virions can be seasonally released into the lower atmosphere and thence to ground level. Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Seasonal Influenza and Human Para Influenza Virus (HPIV) are all diseases that fall in this category, including SARS-CoV-2. The seasonal incidence of disease at ground level would appear to be patchy over distance scales that are largely dictated by viral-laden dust cloud size modulated by scales of atmospheric turbulence. This could produce clustering of cases in space and time that has given rise to ‘contagion’ concepts of community spread and of superspreaders.