Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 aerosol dispersion in indoor air: scoping review

Anyele Albuquerque Lima; Izabelly Carollynny Maciel Nunes; José Leandro da Silva Duarte; Lucas Meili; Patricia de Carvalho  Nagliate; Alda Graciele Claudio dos Santos  Almeida

doi:10.33448/rsd-v10i4.14300

Authors

Anyele Albuquerque Lima Universidade Federal de Alagoas https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7254-9412
Izabelly Carollynny Maciel Nunes Universidade Federal de Alagoas https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5032-2759
José Leandro da Silva Duarte Universidade Federal de Alagoas https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5641-0648
Lucas Meili Universidade Federal de Alagoas https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0307-8204
Patricia de Carvalho Nagliate Universidade Federal de Alagoas https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6715-0028
Alda Graciele Claudio dos Santos Almeida Universidade Federal de Alagoas https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0406-8849

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v10i4.14300

Keywords:

Coronavirus; Dissemination; COVID-19; Airborne.

Abstract

Background: SARS-CoV-2 is the infectious agent responsible for COVID-19, its transmission occurs through the release of respiratory droplets and aerosols. Aim: Identify the main characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 aerosols dispersion in indoor air. Methods: Scoping Review was conducted using the databases: National Library of Medicines – MEDLINE/Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, Virtual Health Library (VHL) and Cochrane Library, the search in gray literature was performed on Google Scholar, OpenGrey and Grey Literature Report, from March to September 2020. The descriptors used were "coronavirus" and "aerosol". Data were selected and screened following the protocol established by the The Joanna Briggs Institute, PRISMA flow diagram and EndNote reference management tool. Findings: Ten papers were selected, which presented characteristics that could influence the SARS-CoV-2 aerosols dispersion, with highlight to: aerosol origin; viral load identified in the air (2.86 copies/liter of air); aerosol particle size with viral load (0.25 μm); dispersion (10.00 m); air stay time (3 h); influence of air temperature and relative humidity. Conclusion: Aerosol particles containing SARS-CoV-2 may have infectious viral charge, presenting a minimum size up to 0.25 μm, being able to reach up to 10 m of distance and survive in the air for a few hours. The variables air temperature and relative humidity did not present consistent evidence to influence the dispersion of SARS-CoV-2 aerosols.

References

Anderson, E. L., Turnham, P., Griffin, J. R., & Clarke, C. C. (2020). Consideration of the Aerosol Transmission for COVID-19 and Public Health. Risk Analysis, 40(5), 902–907. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13500

Araújo, M., & Naimi, B. (2020). Spread of SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus likely constrained by climate. MedRixv, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.12.20034728

Asadi, S., Bouvier, N., Wexler, A. S., & Ristenpart, W. D. (2020). The coronavirus pandemic and aerosols: Does COVID-19 transmit via expiratory particles? Aerosol Science and Technology, 54(6), 635–638. https://doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2020.1749229

Bahl, P., Doolan, C., de Silva, C., Chughtai, A. A., Bourouiba, L., & MacIntyre, C. R. (2020). Airborne or Droplet Precautions for Health Workers Treating Coronavirus Disease 2019? The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiaa189

Bourouiba, L. (2020). Turbulent Gas Clouds and Respiratory Pathogen Emissions: Potential Implications for Reducing Transmission of COVID-19. JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association, 323(18), 1837–1838. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.4756

Centers for disease control and prevention. (2020a). How COVID-19 Spreads. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/transmission/index.html

Centers for Disease Control and prevention. (2020b). Interim Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Patients with Suspected or Confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Healthcare Settings. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/disposition-hospitalized-patients.html

Chen, J. (2020). Pathogenicity and transmissibility of 2019-nCoV—A quick overview and comparison with other emerging viruses. Microbes and Infection, 22(2), 69–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micinf.2020.01.004

Doremalen, N. van, Bushmaker, T., Morris, D. H., Holbrook, M. G., Gamble, A., Williamson, B. N., & Munster, V. J. (2020). Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1. The New England Journal of Medicine, 382(16), 0–3. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc2004973.

Fathizadeh, H., Maroufi, P., Momen-Heravi, M., Dao, S., Köse, S., Ganbarov, K., & Kafil, H. S. (2020). Protection and disinfection policies against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). Le Inferziono in Medicina, 2, 185–191.

Fennelly, K. P. (2020). Particle sizes of infectious aerosols: implications for infection control. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 8(9), 914–924. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30323-4

Guo, Z.-D., Wang, Z.-Y., Zhang, S.-F., Li, X., Lin Li, Li, C., & Chen, W. (2020). Surface distribution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in Leishenshan Hospital in China. Indoor and Built Environment, 26(7). https://doi.org/10.1177/1420326X20942938

Ijaz, M. K., Brunner, A. H., Sattar, S. A., Nair, R. C., & Johnson-Lussenburg, C. M. (1985). Survival characteristics of airborne human coronavirus 229E. Journal of General Virology, 66(12), 2743–2748. https://doi.org/10.1099/0022-1317-66-12-2743

Leung, N. H. L., Chu, D. K. W., Shiu, E. Y. C., Chan, K. H., McDevitt, J. J., Hau, B. J. P., & Cowling, B. J. (2020). Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks. Nature Medicine, 26(5), 676–680. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0843-2

Liu, Y., Ning, Z., Chen, Y., Guo, M., Liu, Y., Gali, N. K., & Lan, K. (2020). Aerodynamic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in two Wuhan hospitals. Nature, 582(7813), 557–560. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2271-3

McGowan, J., Sampson, M., Salzwedel, D. M., Cogo, E., Foerster, V., & Lefebvre, C. (2016). PRESS Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies: 2015 Guideline Statement. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 75, 40–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2016.01.021

Morawska, L., & Cao, J. (2020). Airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2: The world should face the reality. Environment International, 139(April), 105730. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.105730

Otter, J. A., Donskey, C., Yezli, S., Douthwaite, S., Goldenberg, S. D., & Weber, D. J. (2016). Transmission of SARS and MERS coronaviruses and influenza virus in healthcare settings: The possible role of dry surface contamination. Journal of Hospital Infection, 92(3), 235–250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2015.08.027

Peng, X., Xu, X., Li, Y., Cheng, L., Zhou, X., & Ren, B. (2020). Transmission routes of 2019-nCoV and controls in dental practice. International Journal of Oral Science, 12(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41368-020-0075-9

Peters, M. D., Godfrey, C., McInerney, P., Munn, Z., Tricco, A. C., & Khalil, H. (2020). Chapter 11: Scoping reviews. In E. Aromataris & Z. Munn (Eds.), JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis. JBI. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.46658/JBIMES-20-12

PRISMA. (2015). Principais itens para relatar Revisões sistemáticas e Meta-análises: A recomendação PRISMA. Epidemiologia e Serviços de Saúde (Vol. 24). https://doi.org/10.5123/s1679-49742015000200017

Santarpia, J., Rivera, D., Herrera, V., Morwitzer, M. J., Creager, H., Santarpia, G., & Lowe, J. (2020). Transmission Potential of SARS-CoV-2 in Viral Shedding Observed at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. MedRxiv, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.23.20039446

Setti, L., Passarini, F., De Gennaro, G., Barbieri, P., Perrone, M. G., Borelli, M., … Miani, A. (2020). Airborne transmission route of covid-19: Why 2 meters/6 feet of inter-personal distance could not be enough. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17082932

Tang, S., Mao, Y., Jones, R. M., Tan, Q., Ji, J. S., Li, N., & Macintyre, C. R. (2020). Aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2? Evidence, prevention and control. Environment International Journal, 144. 1060039. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.106039

Wilson, N. M., Norton, A., Young, F. P., & Collins, D. W. (2020). Airborne transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 to healthcare workers: a narrative review. Anaesthesia, 75(8), 1086–1095. https://doi.org/10.1111/anae.15093

World Health Organization. (2020a). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public: Mythbusters. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters

World Health Organization. (2020b). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public. https://pesquisa.bvsalud.org/portal/resource/pt/lis-47042

World Health Organization. (2020c). Infection prevention and control during health care when COVID-19 is suspected: interim guidance. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/331495

World Health Organization. (2020d). Modes of transmission of virus causing COVID-19: implications for IPC precaution recommendations: Scientific brief, 27 March. from https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/331601?locale-attribute=pt&

World Health Organization. (2020e). Naming the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the virus that causes it. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/naming-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-and-the-virus-that-causes-it

World Health Organization. (2020f). Q&A on coronaviruses (COVID-19): Is COVID-19 airborne? https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-how-is-it-transmitted