Bizarre Vomiting Machine Helps Scientists Study Virus Contamination

No one wants to throw up, it's nasty and gross. Although it is bad to feel, it is the way our bodies cope when we are sick (and after vomiting many people feel immediate relief). To understand more about vomiting, researchers at the University of North Carolina have created a type of vomit simulator with tubes, pumps, and valves for testing.

The basic purpose of the experimental machine is to prove that someone sick by vomiting is also spreading the disease virus through the air. The particles with the virus inside you are blown out and consequently contaminate the air around you. Researchers loaded the vomiting machine with a fake vomit with doses of the MS2 virus (less dangerous than the stomach virus known as norovirus).

Through the experiment, it was possible to see that the virus particles were expelled as the vomiting became more intense, with more pressure. Despite representing a very small volume of vomiting (approximately 0.3%), nearly 10, 000 MS2 particles could be found in that amount - already enough to seriously infect someone, as 1000 particles is enough to contaminate someone.

So it turns out that vomiting can transmit viruses from sick people, as well as sneezing. So, as much as you want to help, stay away from the person. But the big question we really ask ourselves is this: did they need to have added that dreadful face to the machine?

Via TecMundo.