ArticleEnvironmental science & technology2023
Expiratory Aerosol pH: The Overlooked Driver of Airborne Virus Inactivation.
Article in Environmental science & technology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 23 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 62 citations in OpenAlex.
- Intermediate Relative Humidity Preserves Respiratory Syncytial Virus via a Semi-Solid Bioaerosol State.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Filamentous morphology of influenza A virus confers enhanced stability in aerosols.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Condensate-Like Organization in Respiratory Aerosols Modulates the Dynamics of an Airborne Virus.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Influence of Carbon Dioxide and pH on Influenza Virus in Sessile Saliva Droplets.Environmental science & technology · 2026Article
- Comparative characterization of bronchial and nasal mucus reveals key determinants of influenza A virus inhibition.mSphere · 2025Article
- Inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 at acidic pH is driven by partial unfolding of spike.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Measurements of Surrogate Respiratory Sessile Droplet pH and Implications for Exhaled Respiratory Aerosol and Airborne Disease Transmission.ACS central science · 2025Article
- Article
- Mucin Colocalizes with Influenza Virus and Preserves Infectivity in Deposited Model Respiratory Droplets.Environmental science & technology · 2025Article
- Persistence of Phi6, a SARS-CoV-2 surrogate, in simulated indoor environments: Effects of humidity and material properties.PloS one · 2025Article
- Impact of organic compounds on the stability of influenza A virus in deposited 1-μL droplets.mSphere · 2024Article
- Stability of influenza A virus in droplets and aerosols is heightened by the presence of commensal respiratory bacteria.Journal of virology · 2024Article
- Review of factors affecting virus inactivation in aerosols and droplets.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2024Review
- The microphysics of surrogates of exhaled aerosols from the upper respiratory tract.Aerosol science and technology : the journal of the American Association for Aerosol Research · 2024Article
- Does vaping increase the likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 infection? Paradoxically yes and no.American journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology · 2024Article
- Physiology or Psychology: What Drives Human Emissions of Carbon Dioxide and Ammonia?Environmental science & technology · 2024Article
- Dependence of aerosol-borne influenza A virus infectivity on relative humidity and aerosol composition.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- A new chapter of healthy indoor air: antiviral air treatments.EMBO molecular medicine · 2023Article
- Article
- Physicochemical characterization of porcine respiratory aerosol and considerations for future aerovirology.PNAS nexus · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
15 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Respiratory viruses, including influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2, are transmitted by the airborne route. Air filtration and ventilation mechanically reduce the concentration of airborne viruses and are necessary tools for disease mitigation. However, they ignore the potential impact of the chemical environment surrounding aerosolized viruses, which determines the aerosol pH. Atmospheric aerosol gravitates toward acidic pH, and enveloped viruses are prone to inactivation at strong acidity levels. Yet, the acidity of expiratory aerosol particles and its effect on airborne virus persistence have not been examined. Here, we combine pH-dependent inactivation rates of influenza A virus (IAV) and SARS-CoV-2 with microphysical properties of respiratory fluids using a biophysical aerosol model. We find that particles exhaled into indoor air (with relative humidity ≥ 50%) become mildly acidic (pH ∼ 4), rapidly inactivating IAV within minutes, whereas SARS-CoV-2 requires days. If indoor air is enriched with nonhazardous levels of nitric acid, aerosol pH drops by up to 2 units, decreasing 99%-inactivation times for both viruses in small aerosol particles to below 30 s. Conversely, unintentional removal of volatile acids from indoor air may elevate pH and prolong airborne virus persistence. The overlooked role of aerosol acidity has profound implications for virus transmission and mitigation strategies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.