ArticleClinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America2022
SARS-CoV-2 in Exhaled Aerosol Particles from COVID-19 Cases and Its Association to Household Transmission.
Article in Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 shedding in exhaled material: a systematic review.Epidemiology and infection · 2025Pooled it
- The Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in Community Indoor Settings: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2024Pooled it
- Long distance airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2: rapid systematic review.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2022Pooled it
- Systemic and mucosal immune signatures of protection against SARS-CoV-2 transmission in humans.Cell reports. Medicine · 2025Article
- Infectivity of exhaled SARS-CoV-2 aerosols is sufficient to transmit covid-19 within minutes.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Risk factors and vectors for SARS-CoV-2 household transmission: a prospective, longitudinal cohort study.The Lancet. Microbe · 2023Article
- Exhaled SARS-CoV-2 RNA viral load kinetics measured by facemask sampling associates with household transmission.Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases · 2023Article
- Viable SARS-CoV-2 detected in the air of hospital rooms of patients with COVID-19 with an early infection.International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2023Article
- Association Between Population-Level Factors and Household Secondary Attack Rate of SARS-CoV-2: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Open forum infectious diseases · 2023Article
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- Exhaled breath SARS-CoV-2 shedding patterns across variants of concern.International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2022Article
- Abrupt decreases in infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 in aerosols.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Nanomaterials to combat SARS-CoV-2: Strategies to prevent, diagnose and treat COVID-19.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2022Review
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission via exhaled aerosol particles has been considered an important route for the spread of infection, especially during super-spreading events involving loud talking or singing. However, no study has previously linked measurements of viral aerosol emissions to transmission rates.
methodsDuring February-March 2021, COVID-19 cases that were close to symptom onset were visited with a mobile laboratory for collection of exhaled aerosol particles during breathing, talking, and singing, respectively, and of nasopharyngeal and saliva samples. Aerosol samples were collected using a BioSpot-VIVAS and a NIOSH bc-251 2-stage cyclone, and all samples were analyzed by RT-qPCR for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA detection. We compared transmission rates between households with aerosol-positive and aerosol-negative index cases.
resultsSARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in at least 1 aerosol sample from 19 of 38 (50%) included cases. The odds ratio (OR) of finding positive aerosol samples decreased with each day from symptom onset (OR 0.55, 95 confidence interval [CI] .30-1.0, P = .049). The highest number of positive aerosol samples were from singing, 16 (42%), followed by talking, 11 (30%), and the least from breathing, 3 (8%). Index cases were identified for 13 households with 31 exposed contacts. Higher transmission rates were observed in households with aerosol-positive index cases, 10/16 infected (63%), compared to households with aerosol-negative index cases, 4/15 infected (27%) (χ2 test, P = .045).
conclusionsCOVID-19 cases were more likely to exhale SARS-CoV-2-containing aerosol particles close to symptom onset and during singing or talking as compared to breathing. This study supports that individuals with SARS-CoV-2 in exhaled aerosols are more likely to transmit COVID-19.
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