Researchers used a unique approach to study if norovirus — the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis worldwide — can become aerosolized: They built a vomiting machine to mimic how humans vomit.
According to an NPR report, a civil engineer built a vomiting device based on what is known about the pressure and volume that happens when a human throws up. Then, researchers encased the device in a Plexiglas box and experimented with it using a stand-in for norovirus, a bacteriophage.
They found that some virus particles did aerosolize during vomiting, enough that it could spread the illness to others.
The researchers published the results in PLOS ONE.