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Exhaled aerosols among PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2-infected children
BACKGROUND: Available data on aerosol emissions among children and adolescents during spontaneous breathing are limited. Our aim was to gain insight into the role of children in the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and whether aerosol measurements among children...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2023
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10160682/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37152322 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fped.2023.1156366 |
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author | Schuchmann, Pia Scheuch, Gerhard Naumann, Rolf Keute, Marius Lücke, Thomas Zielen, Stefan Brinkmann, Folke |
author_facet | Schuchmann, Pia Scheuch, Gerhard Naumann, Rolf Keute, Marius Lücke, Thomas Zielen, Stefan Brinkmann, Folke |
author_sort | Schuchmann, Pia |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Available data on aerosol emissions among children and adolescents during spontaneous breathing are limited. Our aim was to gain insight into the role of children in the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and whether aerosol measurements among children can be used to help detect so-called superspreaders—infected individuals with extremely high numbers of exhaled aerosol particles. METHODS: In this prospective study, the aerosol concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive and SARS-CoV-2 PCR-negative children and adolescents (2–17 years) were investigated. All subjects were asked about their current health status and medical history. The exhaled aerosol particle counts of PCR-negative and PCR-positive subjects were measured using the Resp-Aer-Meter (Palas GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany) and compared using linear regression. RESULTS: A total of 250 children and adolescents were included in this study, 105 of whom were SARS-CoV-2 positive and 145 of whom were SARS-CoV-2 negative. The median age in both groups was 9 years (IQR 7–11 years). A total of 124 (49.6%) participants were female, and 126 (50.4%) participants were male. A total of 81.9% of the SARS-CoV-2-positive group had symptoms of viral infection. The median particle count of all individuals was 79.55 particles/liter (IQR 44.55–141.15). There was a tendency for older children to exhale more particles (1–5 years: 79.54 p/L; 6–11 years: 77.96 p/L; 12–17 years: 98.63 p/L). SARS-CoV-2 PCR status was not a bivariate predictor (t = 0.82, p = 0.415) of exhaled aerosol particle count; however, SARS-CoV-2 status was shown to be a significant predictor in a multiple regression model together with age, body mass index (BMI), COVID-19 vaccination, and past SARS-CoV-2 infection (t = 2.81, p = 0.005). COVID-19 vaccination status was a highly significant predictor of exhaled aerosol particles (p < .001). CONCLUSION: During SARS-CoV-2 infection, children and adolescents did not have elevated aerosol levels. In addition, no superspreaders were found. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10160682 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-101606822023-05-06 Exhaled aerosols among PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2-infected children Schuchmann, Pia Scheuch, Gerhard Naumann, Rolf Keute, Marius Lücke, Thomas Zielen, Stefan Brinkmann, Folke Front Pediatr Pediatrics BACKGROUND: Available data on aerosol emissions among children and adolescents during spontaneous breathing are limited. Our aim was to gain insight into the role of children in the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and whether aerosol measurements among children can be used to help detect so-called superspreaders—infected individuals with extremely high numbers of exhaled aerosol particles. METHODS: In this prospective study, the aerosol concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive and SARS-CoV-2 PCR-negative children and adolescents (2–17 years) were investigated. All subjects were asked about their current health status and medical history. The exhaled aerosol particle counts of PCR-negative and PCR-positive subjects were measured using the Resp-Aer-Meter (Palas GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany) and compared using linear regression. RESULTS: A total of 250 children and adolescents were included in this study, 105 of whom were SARS-CoV-2 positive and 145 of whom were SARS-CoV-2 negative. The median age in both groups was 9 years (IQR 7–11 years). A total of 124 (49.6%) participants were female, and 126 (50.4%) participants were male. A total of 81.9% of the SARS-CoV-2-positive group had symptoms of viral infection. The median particle count of all individuals was 79.55 particles/liter (IQR 44.55–141.15). There was a tendency for older children to exhale more particles (1–5 years: 79.54 p/L; 6–11 years: 77.96 p/L; 12–17 years: 98.63 p/L). SARS-CoV-2 PCR status was not a bivariate predictor (t = 0.82, p = 0.415) of exhaled aerosol particle count; however, SARS-CoV-2 status was shown to be a significant predictor in a multiple regression model together with age, body mass index (BMI), COVID-19 vaccination, and past SARS-CoV-2 infection (t = 2.81, p = 0.005). COVID-19 vaccination status was a highly significant predictor of exhaled aerosol particles (p < .001). CONCLUSION: During SARS-CoV-2 infection, children and adolescents did not have elevated aerosol levels. In addition, no superspreaders were found. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-04-21 /pmc/articles/PMC10160682/ /pubmed/37152322 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fped.2023.1156366 Text en © 2023 Schuchmann, Scheuch, Naumann, Keute, Lücke, Zielen and Brinkmann. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Pediatrics Schuchmann, Pia Scheuch, Gerhard Naumann, Rolf Keute, Marius Lücke, Thomas Zielen, Stefan Brinkmann, Folke Exhaled aerosols among PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2-infected children |
title | Exhaled aerosols among PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2-infected children |
title_full | Exhaled aerosols among PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2-infected children |
title_fullStr | Exhaled aerosols among PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2-infected children |
title_full_unstemmed | Exhaled aerosols among PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2-infected children |
title_short | Exhaled aerosols among PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2-infected children |
title_sort | exhaled aerosols among pcr-confirmed sars-cov-2-infected children |
topic | Pediatrics |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10160682/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37152322 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fped.2023.1156366 |
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