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Updated: Oct 22, 2025

Detection of Viruses from Bioaerosols Using Anion Exchange Resin
Published on: August 22, 2018
Airborne transmission of respiratory viruses
Chia C Wang1,2,3,4, Kimberly A Prather5, Josué Sznitman6
1Department of Chemistry, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 804, Republic of China. chiawang@mail.nsysu.edu.tw kprather@ucsd.edu.
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed critical knowledge gaps in our understanding of and a need to update the traditional view of transmission pathways for respiratory viruses. The long-standing definitions of droplet and airborne transmission do not account for the mechanisms by which virus-laden respiratory droplets and aerosols travel through the air and lead to infection. In this Review, we discuss current evidence regarding the transmission of respiratory viruses by aerosols-how they are generated, transported, and deposited, as well as the factors affecting the relative contributions of droplet-spray deposition versus aerosol inhalation as modes of transmission. Improved understanding of aerosol transmission brought about by studies of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection requires a reevaluation of the major transmission pathways for other respiratory viruses, which will allow better-informed controls to reduce airborne transmission.
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