School of Public Health and Community Medicine, The University of New South Wales, Australia.
J Infect. 2011 Jan;62(1):1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2010.11.010. Epub 2010 Nov 19.
Understanding respiratory pathogen transmission is essential for public health measures aimed at reducing pathogen spread. Particle generation and size are key determinant for pathogen carriage, aerosolisation, and transmission. Production of infectious respiratory particles is dependent on the type and frequency of respiratory activity, type and site of infection and pathogen load. Further, relative humidity, particle aggregation and mucus properties influence expelled particle size and subsequent transmission. Review of 26 studies reporting particle sizes generated from breathing, coughing, sneezing and talking showed healthy individuals generate particles between 0.01 and 500 μm, and individuals with infections produce particles between 0.05 and 500 μm. This indicates that expelled particles carrying pathogens do not exclusively disperse by airborne or droplet transmission but avail of both methods simultaneously and current dichotomous infection control precautions should be updated to include measures to contain both modes of aerosolised transmission.
了解呼吸道病原体的传播对于旨在减少病原体传播的公共卫生措施至关重要。颗粒的生成和大小是决定病原体携带、气溶胶化和传播的关键因素。传染性呼吸道颗粒的产生取决于呼吸活动的类型和频率、感染的类型和部位以及病原体载量。此外，相对湿度、颗粒聚集和黏液特性会影响排出颗粒的大小以及随后的传播。对 26 项报告呼吸、咳嗽、打喷嚏和说话时产生的颗粒大小的研究进行综述表明，健康个体产生的颗粒大小在 0.01 至 500 μm 之间，而感染个体产生的颗粒大小在 0.05 至 500 μm 之间。这表明携带病原体的排出颗粒不仅通过空气传播或飞沫传播而分散，而是同时利用这两种方法，当前的二分法感染控制预防措施应更新，以包括包含两种气溶胶传播方式的措施。
