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Effects of mask-wearing on the inhalability and deposition of airborne SARS-CoV-2 aerosols in human upper airway
Even though face masks are well accepted as tools useful in reducing COVID-19 transmissions, their effectiveness in reducing viral loads in the respiratory tract is unclear. Wearing a mask will significantly alter the airflow and particle dynamics near the face, which can change the inhalability of...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
AIP Publishing LLC
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7757581/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33362401 http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0034580 |
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author | Xi, Jinxiang Si, Xiuhua April Nagarajan, Ramaswamy |
author_facet | Xi, Jinxiang Si, Xiuhua April Nagarajan, Ramaswamy |
author_sort | Xi, Jinxiang |
collection | PubMed |
description | Even though face masks are well accepted as tools useful in reducing COVID-19 transmissions, their effectiveness in reducing viral loads in the respiratory tract is unclear. Wearing a mask will significantly alter the airflow and particle dynamics near the face, which can change the inhalability of ambient particles. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of wearing a surgical mask on inspiratory airflow and dosimetry of airborne, virus-laden aerosols on the face and in the respiratory tract. A computational model was developed that comprised a pleated surgical mask, a face model, and an image-based upper airway geometry. The viral load in the nose was particularly examined with and without a mask. Results show that when breathing without a mask, air enters the mouth and nose through specific paths. When wearing a mask, however, air enters the mouth and nose through the entire surface of the mask at lower speeds, which favors the inhalation of ambient aerosols into the nose. With a 65% filtration efficiency (FE) typical for a three-layer surgical mask, wearing a mask reduces dosimetry for all micrometer particles except those of size 1 µm–3 µm, for which equivalent dosimetry with and without a mask in the upper airway was predicted. Wearing a mask reduces particle penetration into the lungs, regardless of the FE of the mask. The results also show that mask-wearing protects the upper airway (particularly the nose and larynx) best from particles larger than 10 µm while protecting the lungs best from particles smaller than 10 µm. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7757581 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | AIP Publishing LLC |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-77575812020-12-23 Effects of mask-wearing on the inhalability and deposition of airborne SARS-CoV-2 aerosols in human upper airway Xi, Jinxiang Si, Xiuhua April Nagarajan, Ramaswamy Phys Fluids (1994) ARTICLES Even though face masks are well accepted as tools useful in reducing COVID-19 transmissions, their effectiveness in reducing viral loads in the respiratory tract is unclear. Wearing a mask will significantly alter the airflow and particle dynamics near the face, which can change the inhalability of ambient particles. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of wearing a surgical mask on inspiratory airflow and dosimetry of airborne, virus-laden aerosols on the face and in the respiratory tract. A computational model was developed that comprised a pleated surgical mask, a face model, and an image-based upper airway geometry. The viral load in the nose was particularly examined with and without a mask. Results show that when breathing without a mask, air enters the mouth and nose through specific paths. When wearing a mask, however, air enters the mouth and nose through the entire surface of the mask at lower speeds, which favors the inhalation of ambient aerosols into the nose. With a 65% filtration efficiency (FE) typical for a three-layer surgical mask, wearing a mask reduces dosimetry for all micrometer particles except those of size 1 µm–3 µm, for which equivalent dosimetry with and without a mask in the upper airway was predicted. Wearing a mask reduces particle penetration into the lungs, regardless of the FE of the mask. The results also show that mask-wearing protects the upper airway (particularly the nose and larynx) best from particles larger than 10 µm while protecting the lungs best from particles smaller than 10 µm. AIP Publishing LLC 2020-12-01 /pmc/articles/PMC7757581/ /pubmed/33362401 http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0034580 Text en © 2020 Author(s) Published under license by AIP Publishing. 1070-6631/2020/32(12)/123312/16/$30.00 All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | ARTICLES Xi, Jinxiang Si, Xiuhua April Nagarajan, Ramaswamy Effects of mask-wearing on the inhalability and deposition of airborne SARS-CoV-2 aerosols in human upper airway |
title | Effects of mask-wearing on the inhalability and deposition of airborne
SARS-CoV-2 aerosols in human upper airway |
title_full | Effects of mask-wearing on the inhalability and deposition of airborne
SARS-CoV-2 aerosols in human upper airway |
title_fullStr | Effects of mask-wearing on the inhalability and deposition of airborne
SARS-CoV-2 aerosols in human upper airway |
title_full_unstemmed | Effects of mask-wearing on the inhalability and deposition of airborne
SARS-CoV-2 aerosols in human upper airway |
title_short | Effects of mask-wearing on the inhalability and deposition of airborne
SARS-CoV-2 aerosols in human upper airway |
title_sort | effects of mask-wearing on the inhalability and deposition of airborne
sars-cov-2 aerosols in human upper airway |
topic | ARTICLES |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7757581/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33362401 http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0034580 |
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