Impact of Health on Particle Size of Exhaled Respiratory Aerosols: Case-control Study

Individuals with viral infection could possibly emit an infectious aerosol. The distinction between exhaled breaths of infected and healthy individuals should facilitate an understanding of the airborne transmission of infections. In this context, the present study is aimed at distinguishing healthy individuals from symptomatic ones by the study of their exhaled breath. A setup composed of a modified hood connected to an electrical low pressure impactor, which allows for the study of a wide range of particle sizes (from 7 nm to 10 μm), has been developed in order to collect exhaled breaths. This setup has been used with seventy eight volunteers. The results obtained using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed that exhaled breaths of individuals without symptoms have statistical similarities and are different from those of individuals with symptoms. This separation was made by the greater proportional emission by individuals with symptoms of particles collected on stages 3 (D ₅₀ = 0.09 μm), 6 (D ₅₀ = 0.38 μm), 8 (D ₅₀ = 0.95 μm), 10 (D ₅₀ = 2.40 μm), and 12 (D ₅₀ = 4.02 μm) of the impactor. There was not a specific size distribution obtained for the individuals with symptoms. As a consequence, further research on the exhaled breath should be undertaken with symptomatic volunteers and would require the analysis of this wide range of particle sizes.