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Variation in Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Bioaerosol Production in Exhaled Breath. Open forum infectious diseases Verma, R., Kim, E., Degner, N., Walter, K. S., Singh, U., Andrews, J. R. 2022; 9 (1): ofab600

Abstract

We developed a simple, noninvasive mask sampling method to quantify and sequence severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from exhaled breath. We found substantial variation between individuals in SARS-CoV-2 copies exhaled over a 15-minute period, which moderately correlated with nasal swab viral load. Talking was associated with a median of 2 log10 greater exhaled viral copies. Exposure varies substantially between individuals but may be risk stratified by nasal swab viral load and whether the exposure involved conversation.

View details for DOI 10.1093/ofid/ofab600

View details for PubMedID 35028332

View details for PubMedCentralID PMC8753034