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Evidence of Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Exhaled Breath Aerosols of Experimentally-Infected Nonhuman Primates
CHAD ROY, Tulane University
Abstract Number: 466
Working Group: The Role of Aerosol Science in the Understanding of the Spread and Control of COVID-19 and Other Infectious Diseases
Abstract
The zoonotic emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in a historic global pandemic that has markedly impacted planetary disease morbidity and mortality. Transmission of the virus via direct inhalation of exhaled breath aerosols (EBA) from an infected host has been perceived as an opaque exposure pathway relative to more prominent modalities such as large droplet transfer. We demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 is effectively transmitted in EBA in experimentally-infected nonhuman primates (NHP). Collection of EBA in two species (Macaca mulatta and Chlorocebus aethiops) of SARS-CoV-2-infected animals showed significant, temporal increase of total particle production correlative and timed to the development of viral titers in the lung and nasal mucosa. EBA distributions skewed smaller (<3 μm) as a function of increase of total particles and peaked at the height of post-infection viral titer in experimentally-infected animals. These results clearly demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 can effectively transmit in the smaller fraction of EBA at a particle size consistent with longer-term environmental transport and associated respirability potential.