Droplets and aerosols: An artificial dichotomy in respiratory virus transmission
In the medical literature, three mutually non-exclusive modes of pathogen transmission associated with respiratory droplets are usually identified: contact, droplet and airborne (or aerosol) transmission. The demarcation between droplet and airborne transmission is often based on a cut-off droplet diameter, most commonly 5 microns. We argue here that the infectivity of a droplet, and consequently the transmissivity of the virus, as a function of droplet size is a continuum, depending on numerous factors (gravitational settling rate, transport and dispersion in a turbulent air jet, viral load and viral shedding, virus inactivation) that cannot be adequately characterized by a single droplet diameter. We propose instead that droplet and aerosol transmission should be replaced by a unique airborne transmission mode, to be distinguished from contact transmission.
DROSSINOS Ioannis;
WEBER Thomas P.;
STILIANAKIS Nikolaos;
2021-05-12
Wiley-Blackwell
JRC121417
2398-8835 (online),
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/hsr2.275,
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC121417,
10.1002/hsr2.275 (online),
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