An overview of the effect of bioaerosol size in coronavirus disease 2019 transmission

Abstract

The fast spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) constitutes a worldwide challenge to the public health, educational and trade systems, affecting the overall well-being of human societies. The high transmission and mortality rates of this virus, and the unavailability of a vaccine or treatment, resulted in the decision of multiple governments to enact measures of social distancing. Such measures can reduce the exposure to bioaerosols, which can result in pathogen deposition in the respiratory tract of the host causing disease and an immunological response. Thus, it is important to consider the validity of the proposal for keeping a distance of at least 2 m from other persons to avoid the spread of COVID-19. This work reviews the effect of aerodynamic diameter (size) of particles carrying RNA copies of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). A SARS-CoV-2 carrier person talking, sneezing or coughing at distance of 2 m can still provide a pathogenic bioaerosol load with submicron particles that remain viable in air for up to 3 h for exposure of healthy persons near and far from the source in a stagnant environment. The deposited bioaerosol creates contaminated surfaces, which if touched can act as a path to introduce the pathogen by mouth, nose or eyes and cause disease. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Prediction of infection risk associated with the dynamic behavior of aerosol particles during dental aerosol generating procedures in dental clinics in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…As reported by Guzman [41], the SARS-CoV-2 viral load required to initiate COVID-19 disease is expected to be below 1,000 particles. In theory, taking into account the size of a SARS-CoV-2 viral particle is in the range of 0.006-0.14 µm [42], a 1 µm drop could transport around eight viral particles.…”

Occupational exposure of health care personnel to SARS-CoV-2 particles in the intensive care unit of Tehran hospital

“…(Guzman 2020) Thus, keeping a safe social distance is another strategy to reduce airborne transmission. (Guzman 2020).…”

“…Health care occupational exposure to bioaerosol can result in the deposition of the pathogen in the respiratory tract of the host causing disease and an immunological response. (Guzman 2020).…”

“…(WHO 2020) Great efforts have been made to enhance scientific facts related to COVID-19. (Guzman 2020;Qiu et al 2020).…”

“…COVID-19 outbreak attracted much attention to study the possible transmission ways through bioaerosols. (Guzman 2020; WHO Organization 2020b) Respiratory droplets have a size distribution range of between a submicron to thousands of microns. Droplets with larger than 100 microns stay in air less than for 5 s in height of 1.5 m from the ground.…”