Fate and Transport of Microorganisms in Air

Brown, Gary S.; Mohr, Alan Jeff

doi:10.1128/9781555818821.ch3.2.4

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 95 publications

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“…In the outpatient clinic setting, endonasal procedures commonly occur in rooms with significantly less environmental controls compared to standard operating rooms. Generation of aerosolized particles during office‐based endonasal procedures could pose a potential exposure risk to clinic staff due to high traffic level through patient rooms and lower air‐exchange rates compared to operating rooms 7,8 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantification of Aerosol Concentrations During Endonasal Instrumentation in the Clinic Setting

et al. 2020

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Objective Recent anecdotal reports and cadaveric simulations have described aerosol generation during endonasal instrumentation, highlighting a possible risk for transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) during endoscopic endonasal instrumentation. This study aims to provide a greater understanding of particle generation and exposure risk during endoscopic endonasal instrumentation. Study Design Prospective quantification of aerosol generation during office‐based nasal endoscopy procedures. Methods Using an optical particle sizer, airborne particles concentrations 0.3 to 10 microns in diameter, were measured during 30 nasal endoscopies in the clinic setting. Measurements were taken at time points throughout diagnostic and debridement endoscopies and compared to preprocedure and empty room particle concentrations. Results No significant change in airborne particle concentrations was measured during diagnostic nasal endoscopies in patients without the need for debridement. However, significant increases in mean particle concentration compared to preprocedure levels were measured during cold instrumentation at 2,462 particles/foot 3 (95% CI 837 to 4,088; P = .005) and during suction use at 2,973 particle/foot 3 (95% CI 1,419 to 4,529; P = .001). In total, 99.2% of all measured particles were ≤1 μm in diameter. Conclusion When measured with an optical particle sizer, diagnostic nasal endoscopy with a rigid endoscope is not associated with increased particle aerosolization in patient for whom sinonasal debridement is not needed. In patients needing sinonasal debridement, endonasal cold and suction instrumentation were associated with increased particle aerosolization, with a trend observed during endoscope use prior to tissue manipulation. Endonasal debridement may potentially pose a higher risk for aerosolization and SARS‐CoV‐2 transmission. Appropriate personal protective equipment use and patient screening are recommended for all office‐based endonasal procedures. Level of Evidence 3 Laryngoscope , 2020

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantification of Aerosol Concentrations During Endonasal Instrumentation in the Clinic Setting

et al. 2020

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“…Aerosolized pathogens are dispersed through the wind and die off or settle over distances. Pathogen die-off and dispersal of aerosols are generally modeled with exponential functions (Courault et al 2017;Brown and Mohr 2016). We assume that risks from other spatial routes of exposure, such as contact with contaminated animals, follow a similar decay.…”

Section: Spatial Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Spatial Risk of Diarrheal Disease Associated with Household Proximity to Untreated Wastewater Used for Irrigation in the Mezquital Valley, Mexico

Contreras

Trangucci

Félix-Arellano

et al. 2020

Environ Health Perspect

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Background: Reusing wastewater for irrigation is a longstanding practice that enhances crop yields and improves climate resilience. Without treatment, however, wastewater contains harmful pathogens and chemicals. Reuse of untreated wastewater has been shown to be harmful to the health of nearby communities, but the routes of exposure are unknown and do not appear to be occupational. Some routes occur throughout entire communities, such as food contamination. Other routes may be spatially dependent, such as spread by domestic animals or through aerosolization. Objectives: To examine whether those wastewater exposure routes with a spatial dependency affect health, we estimated the risks of diarrheal disease in children under age 5 associated with living near wastewater canals, while adjusting for potential individual- and household-level confounders. Methods: We conducted three surveys over 1 y in the Mezquital Valley, Mexico, to measure diarrhea in children. The distance between each participating household and a wastewater canal was measured using GPS coordinates. The association between proximity and diarrhea was estimated with a multilevel logistic regression model accounting for spatial autocorrelation. Results: A total of 564 households completed one to three surveys, resulting in 1,856 survey observations of 646 children. Children living from a canal had 45% lower odds of diarrhea than those living within of a canal, and children living away had 70% lower odds of diarrhea [ vs. adjusted odds ratio , 95% credible interval (CI): 0.33, 0.91; vs. adjusted , 95% CI: 0.11, 0.82]. Discussion: The estimated decline in diarrheal prevalence with household distance from a canal persisted after controlling for occupational exposure. Identifying the specific routes of exposure that drive this relationship will help identify which interventions, such as upstream treatment, can reduce health risks for entire communities where wastewater exposure occurs. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP6443

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“…The high cell viability reported for microbes in smoke from lowintensity prescribed fires [6] may not be representative of higher severity fires, since viability is likely affected by a combination of factors including fire behavior (e.g., combustion stage and efficiency, intensity, fuels consumed [2]), atmospheric conditions (e.g., RH, temperature, particulate matter [3]) and the tolerance of the aerosolized microbes to environmental stress (e.g., desiccation and heat [13,14]). Indicators of increased microbial tracers (e.g., sucralose and mannitol) during biomass-burning seasons vs. nonsmoke periods have also been found in air pollution studies around the globe [15,16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildland fire smoke alters the composition, diversity, and potential atmospheric function of microbial life in the aerobiome

Kobziar

Vuono

Moore

et al. 2022

ISME Communications

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The atmosphere contains a diverse reservoir of microbes but the sources and factors contributing to microbial aerosol variability are not well constrained. To advance understanding of microbial emissions in wildfire smoke, we used unmanned aircraft systems to analyze the aerosols above high-intensity forest fires in the western United States. Our results show that samples of the smoke contained ~four-fold higher concentrations of cells (1.02 ± 0.26 × 105 m−3) compared to background air, with 78% of microbes in smoke inferred to be viable. Fivefold higher taxon richness and ~threefold enrichment of ice nucleating particle concentrations in smoke implies that wildfires are an important source of diverse bacteria and fungi as well as meteorologically relevant aerosols. We estimate that such fires emit 3.71 × 1014 microbial cells ha−1 under typical wildfire conditions in western US forests and demonstrate that wildland biomass combustion has a large-scale influence on the local atmospheric microbial assemblages. Given the long-range transport of wildfire smoke emissions, these results expand the concept of a wildfire’s perimeter of biological impact and have implications to biogeography, gene flow, the dispersal of plant, animal, and human pathogens, and meteorology.

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Fate and Transport of Microorganisms in Air

Cited by 13 publications

References 95 publications

Quantification of Aerosol Concentrations During Endonasal Instrumentation in the Clinic Setting

Quantification of Aerosol Concentrations During Endonasal Instrumentation in the Clinic Setting

Modeling Spatial Risk of Diarrheal Disease Associated with Household Proximity to Untreated Wastewater Used for Irrigation in the Mezquital Valley, Mexico

Wildland fire smoke alters the composition, diversity, and potential atmospheric function of microbial life in the aerobiome

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