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Expiratory Aerosol pH: The Overlooked Driver of Airborne Virus Inactivation

[Image: see text] Respiratory viruses, including influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2, are transmitted by the airborne route. Air filtration and ventilation mechanically reduce the concentration of airborne viruses and are necessary tools for disease mitigation. However, they ignore the potential impact o...

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Autores principales: Luo, Beiping, Schaub, Aline, Glas, Irina, Klein, Liviana K., David, Shannon C., Bluvshtein, Nir, Violaki, Kalliopi, Motos, Ghislain, Pohl, Marie O., Hugentobler, Walter, Nenes, Athanasios, Krieger, Ulrich K., Stertz, Silke, Peter, Thomas, Kohn, Tamar
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Chemical Society 2022
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9835828/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36537693
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c05777
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author Luo, Beiping
Schaub, Aline
Glas, Irina
Klein, Liviana K.
David, Shannon C.
Bluvshtein, Nir
Violaki, Kalliopi
Motos, Ghislain
Pohl, Marie O.
Hugentobler, Walter
Nenes, Athanasios
Krieger, Ulrich K.
Stertz, Silke
Peter, Thomas
Kohn, Tamar
author_facet Luo, Beiping
Schaub, Aline
Glas, Irina
Klein, Liviana K.
David, Shannon C.
Bluvshtein, Nir
Violaki, Kalliopi
Motos, Ghislain
Pohl, Marie O.
Hugentobler, Walter
Nenes, Athanasios
Krieger, Ulrich K.
Stertz, Silke
Peter, Thomas
Kohn, Tamar
author_sort Luo, Beiping
collection PubMed
description [Image: see text] Respiratory viruses, including influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2, are transmitted by the airborne route. Air filtration and ventilation mechanically reduce the concentration of airborne viruses and are necessary tools for disease mitigation. However, they ignore the potential impact of the chemical environment surrounding aerosolized viruses, which determines the aerosol pH. Atmospheric aerosol gravitates toward acidic pH, and enveloped viruses are prone to inactivation at strong acidity levels. Yet, the acidity of expiratory aerosol particles and its effect on airborne virus persistence have not been examined. Here, we combine pH-dependent inactivation rates of influenza A virus (IAV) and SARS-CoV-2 with microphysical properties of respiratory fluids using a biophysical aerosol model. We find that particles exhaled into indoor air (with relative humidity ≥ 50%) become mildly acidic (pH ∼ 4), rapidly inactivating IAV within minutes, whereas SARS-CoV-2 requires days. If indoor air is enriched with nonhazardous levels of nitric acid, aerosol pH drops by up to 2 units, decreasing 99%-inactivation times for both viruses in small aerosol particles to below 30 s. Conversely, unintentional removal of volatile acids from indoor air may elevate pH and prolong airborne virus persistence. The overlooked role of aerosol acidity has profound implications for virus transmission and mitigation strategies.
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spelling pubmed-98358282023-01-13 Expiratory Aerosol pH: The Overlooked Driver of Airborne Virus Inactivation Luo, Beiping Schaub, Aline Glas, Irina Klein, Liviana K. David, Shannon C. Bluvshtein, Nir Violaki, Kalliopi Motos, Ghislain Pohl, Marie O. Hugentobler, Walter Nenes, Athanasios Krieger, Ulrich K. Stertz, Silke Peter, Thomas Kohn, Tamar Environ Sci Technol [Image: see text] Respiratory viruses, including influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2, are transmitted by the airborne route. Air filtration and ventilation mechanically reduce the concentration of airborne viruses and are necessary tools for disease mitigation. However, they ignore the potential impact of the chemical environment surrounding aerosolized viruses, which determines the aerosol pH. Atmospheric aerosol gravitates toward acidic pH, and enveloped viruses are prone to inactivation at strong acidity levels. Yet, the acidity of expiratory aerosol particles and its effect on airborne virus persistence have not been examined. Here, we combine pH-dependent inactivation rates of influenza A virus (IAV) and SARS-CoV-2 with microphysical properties of respiratory fluids using a biophysical aerosol model. We find that particles exhaled into indoor air (with relative humidity ≥ 50%) become mildly acidic (pH ∼ 4), rapidly inactivating IAV within minutes, whereas SARS-CoV-2 requires days. If indoor air is enriched with nonhazardous levels of nitric acid, aerosol pH drops by up to 2 units, decreasing 99%-inactivation times for both viruses in small aerosol particles to below 30 s. Conversely, unintentional removal of volatile acids from indoor air may elevate pH and prolong airborne virus persistence. The overlooked role of aerosol acidity has profound implications for virus transmission and mitigation strategies. American Chemical Society 2022-12-20 /pmc/articles/PMC9835828/ /pubmed/36537693 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c05777 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Permits non-commercial access and re-use, provided that author attribution and integrity are maintained; but does not permit creation of adaptations or other derivative works (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
spellingShingle Luo, Beiping
Schaub, Aline
Glas, Irina
Klein, Liviana K.
David, Shannon C.
Bluvshtein, Nir
Violaki, Kalliopi
Motos, Ghislain
Pohl, Marie O.
Hugentobler, Walter
Nenes, Athanasios
Krieger, Ulrich K.
Stertz, Silke
Peter, Thomas
Kohn, Tamar
Expiratory Aerosol pH: The Overlooked Driver of Airborne Virus Inactivation
title Expiratory Aerosol pH: The Overlooked Driver of Airborne Virus Inactivation
title_full Expiratory Aerosol pH: The Overlooked Driver of Airborne Virus Inactivation
title_fullStr Expiratory Aerosol pH: The Overlooked Driver of Airborne Virus Inactivation
title_full_unstemmed Expiratory Aerosol pH: The Overlooked Driver of Airborne Virus Inactivation
title_short Expiratory Aerosol pH: The Overlooked Driver of Airborne Virus Inactivation
title_sort expiratory aerosol ph: the overlooked driver of airborne virus inactivation
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9835828/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36537693
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c05777
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