ArticleInfluenza and other respiratory viruses2022
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 can be detected in exhaled aerosol sampled during a few minutes of breathing or coughing.
Article in Influenza and other respiratory viruses, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 shedding in exhaled material: a systematic review.Epidemiology and infection · 2025Pooled it
- Host factors associated with respiratory particle emission and virus presence within respiratory particles: a systematic review.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Pooled it
- A breath-based in vitro diagnostic assay for the detection of lower respiratory tract infections.PNAS nexus · 2024Article
- Particles in Exhaled Air (PExA): Clinical Uses and Future Implications.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Host and viral determinants of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the Syrian hamster.eLife · 2024Article
- COVID-19: An overview on possible transmission ways, sampling matrices and diagnosis.BioImpacts : BI · 2024Review
- Article
- Host and viral determinants of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the Syrian hamster.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Proteomic characteristics and diagnostic potential of exhaled breath particles in patients with COVID-19.Clinical proteomics · 2023Article
- A critical review on the role of leakages in the facemask protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection with consideration of vaccination and virus variants.Indoor air · 2022Review
- Potential Use of Exhaled Breath Condensate for Diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 Infections: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- The Control of Metabolic COInternational journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Droplet and Airborne Transmission Heterogeneity.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 can be detected in exhaled aerosol sampled during a few minutes of breathing or coughing.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe knowledge on the concentration of viral particles in exhaled breath is limited. The aim of this study was to explore if severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can be detected in aerosol from subjects with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during various types of breathing and coughing and how infection with SARS-CoV-2 may influence the number and size of exhaled aerosol particles.
methodsWe counted and collected endogenous particles in exhaled breath in subjects with COVID-19 disease by two different impaction-based methods, during 20 normal breaths, 10 airway opening breaths, and three coughs, respectively. Breath samples were analyzed with reverse transcription real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
resultsDetection of RNA in aerosol was possible in 10 out of 25 subjects. Presence of virus RNA in aerosol was mainly found in cough samples (n = 8), but also in airway opening breaths (n = 3) and in normal breaths (n = 4), with no overlap between the methods. No association between viral load in aerosol and number exhaled particles <5 μm was found. Subjects with COVID-19 exhaled less particles than healthy controls during normal breathing and airway opening breaths (all P < 0.05), but not during cough.
conclusionSARS-CoV-2 RNA can be detected in exhaled aerosol, sampled during a limited number of breathing and coughing procedures. Detection in aerosol seemed independent of viral load in the upper airway swab as well as of the exhaled number of particles. The infectious potential of the amount of virus detected in aerosol needs to be further explored.
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