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Review
. 2022 Feb 11;12(2):20210072.
doi: 10.1098/rsfs.2021.0072. eCollection 2022 Apr 6.

COVID-19: the case for aerosol transmission

Raymond Tellier  1
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19: the case for aerosol transmission

Raymond Tellier. Interface Focus. .

Erratum in

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is the most severe pandemic caused by a respiratory virus since the 1918 influenza pandemic. As is the case with other respiratory viruses, three modes of transmission have been invoked: contact (direct and through fomites), large droplets and aerosols. This narrative review makes the case that aerosol transmission is an important mode for COVID-19, through reviewing studies about bioaerosol physiology, detection of infectious SARS-CoV-2 in exhaled bioaerosols, prolonged SARS-CoV-2 infectivity persistence in aerosols created in the laboratory, detection of SARS-CoV-2 in air samples, investigation of outbreaks with manifest involvement of aerosols, and animal model experiments. SARS-CoV-2 joins influenza A virus as a virus with proven pandemic capacity that can be spread by the aerosol route. This has profound implications for the control of the current pandemic and for future pandemic preparedness.

Keywords: COVID-19; aerosol; transmission.

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