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Respiratory Aerosols and Droplets in the Transmission of Infectious Diseases
MIRA L. PÖHLKER, Ovid O. Krüger, Jan-David Förster, Thomas Berkemeier, Janine Fröhlich-Nowoisky, Wolfgang Elbert, Ulrich Pöschl, Gholamhossein Bagheri, Eberhard Bodenschatz, Simone Scheithauer, J. Alex Huffman, Eugene Mikhailov, Christopher Pöhlker, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany
Abstract Number: 307
Working Group: Infectious Aerosols in the Age of COVID-19
Abstract
Knowing the physicochemical properties of exhaled droplets and aerosol particles is a prerequisite for a detailed mechanistic understanding and effective prevention of the airborne transmission of infectious human diseases. Public health recommendations can benefit from an improved understanding of the respiration particle properties such as number and volume size distributions, the sedimentation time for different diameters, and the chemical composition, which influences the viral load but also the drying time after exhalation.
We provide a critical review and synthesis of scientific knowledge on the number concentrations, size distributions, composition, mixing state, and related properties of respiratory particles emitted upon breathing, speaking, singing, coughing, and sneezing. We derive a parameterization of respiratory particle size distributions based on lognormal modes related to different origins in the respiratory tract, which can be used to trace and localize the sources of infectious particles. This approach may support the medical treatment as well as the risk assessment for aerosol and droplet transmission of infectious diseases. It was applied to analyze which respiratory activities may drive the spread of specific pathogens, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, influenza viruses, and SARS-CoV-2 viruses. The results confirm the high relevance of vocalization for the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 as well as the usefulness of physical distancing, face masks, room ventilation, and air filtration as preventive measures against COVID-19 and other airborne infectious diseases (Pöhlker et al. 2021, arXiv:2103.01188).