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Portable air cleaners and residential exposure to SARS‐CoV‐2 aerosols: A real‐world study

Individuals with COVID‐19 who do not require hospitalization are instructed to self‐isolate in their residences. Due to high secondary infection rates in household members, there is a need to understand airborne transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 within residences. We report the first naturalistic intervent...

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Autores principales: Myers, Nirmala T., Laumbach, Robert J., Black, Kathleen G., Ohman‐Strickland, Pamela, Alimokhtari, Shahnaz, Legard, Alicia, De Resende, Adriana, Calderón, Leonardo, Lu, Frederic T., Mainelis, Gediminas, Kipen, Howard M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9111720/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35481935
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ina.13029
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author Myers, Nirmala T.
Laumbach, Robert J.
Black, Kathleen G.
Ohman‐Strickland, Pamela
Alimokhtari, Shahnaz
Legard, Alicia
De Resende, Adriana
Calderón, Leonardo
Lu, Frederic T.
Mainelis, Gediminas
Kipen, Howard M.
author_facet Myers, Nirmala T.
Laumbach, Robert J.
Black, Kathleen G.
Ohman‐Strickland, Pamela
Alimokhtari, Shahnaz
Legard, Alicia
De Resende, Adriana
Calderón, Leonardo
Lu, Frederic T.
Mainelis, Gediminas
Kipen, Howard M.
author_sort Myers, Nirmala T.
collection PubMed
description Individuals with COVID‐19 who do not require hospitalization are instructed to self‐isolate in their residences. Due to high secondary infection rates in household members, there is a need to understand airborne transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 within residences. We report the first naturalistic intervention study suggesting a reduction of such transmission risk using portable air cleaners (PACs) with HEPA filters. Seventeen individuals with newly diagnosed COVID‐19 infection completed this single‐blind, crossover, randomized study. Total and size‐fractionated aerosol samples were collected simultaneously in the self‐isolation room with the PAC (primary) and another room (secondary) for two consecutive 24‐h periods, one period with HEPA filtration and the other with the filter removed (sham). Seven out of sixteen (44%) air samples in primary rooms were positive for SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA during the sham period. With the PAC operated at its lowest setting (clean air delivery rate [CADR] = 263 cfm) to minimize noise, positive aerosol samples decreased to four out of sixteen residences (25%; p = 0.229). A slight decrease in positive aerosol samples was also observed in the secondary room. As the world confronts both new variants and limited vaccination rates, our study supports this practical intervention to reduce the presence of viral aerosols in a real‐world setting.
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spelling pubmed-91117202022-05-17 Portable air cleaners and residential exposure to SARS‐CoV‐2 aerosols: A real‐world study Myers, Nirmala T. Laumbach, Robert J. Black, Kathleen G. Ohman‐Strickland, Pamela Alimokhtari, Shahnaz Legard, Alicia De Resende, Adriana Calderón, Leonardo Lu, Frederic T. Mainelis, Gediminas Kipen, Howard M. Indoor Air Original Articles Individuals with COVID‐19 who do not require hospitalization are instructed to self‐isolate in their residences. Due to high secondary infection rates in household members, there is a need to understand airborne transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 within residences. We report the first naturalistic intervention study suggesting a reduction of such transmission risk using portable air cleaners (PACs) with HEPA filters. Seventeen individuals with newly diagnosed COVID‐19 infection completed this single‐blind, crossover, randomized study. Total and size‐fractionated aerosol samples were collected simultaneously in the self‐isolation room with the PAC (primary) and another room (secondary) for two consecutive 24‐h periods, one period with HEPA filtration and the other with the filter removed (sham). Seven out of sixteen (44%) air samples in primary rooms were positive for SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA during the sham period. With the PAC operated at its lowest setting (clean air delivery rate [CADR] = 263 cfm) to minimize noise, positive aerosol samples decreased to four out of sixteen residences (25%; p = 0.229). A slight decrease in positive aerosol samples was also observed in the secondary room. As the world confronts both new variants and limited vaccination rates, our study supports this practical intervention to reduce the presence of viral aerosols in a real‐world setting. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022-04-19 2022-04 /pmc/articles/PMC9111720/ /pubmed/35481935 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ina.13029 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Indoor Air published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
spellingShingle Original Articles
Myers, Nirmala T.
Laumbach, Robert J.
Black, Kathleen G.
Ohman‐Strickland, Pamela
Alimokhtari, Shahnaz
Legard, Alicia
De Resende, Adriana
Calderón, Leonardo
Lu, Frederic T.
Mainelis, Gediminas
Kipen, Howard M.
Portable air cleaners and residential exposure to SARS‐CoV‐2 aerosols: A real‐world study
title Portable air cleaners and residential exposure to SARS‐CoV‐2 aerosols: A real‐world study
title_full Portable air cleaners and residential exposure to SARS‐CoV‐2 aerosols: A real‐world study
title_fullStr Portable air cleaners and residential exposure to SARS‐CoV‐2 aerosols: A real‐world study
title_full_unstemmed Portable air cleaners and residential exposure to SARS‐CoV‐2 aerosols: A real‐world study
title_short Portable air cleaners and residential exposure to SARS‐CoV‐2 aerosols: A real‐world study
title_sort portable air cleaners and residential exposure to sars‐cov‐2 aerosols: a real‐world study
topic Original Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9111720/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35481935
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ina.13029
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