Influenza A and B Viruses in Fine Aerosols of Exhaled Breath Samples from Patients in Tropical Singapore.

ABSTRACT: Influenza is a highly contagious respiratory illness that commonly causes outbreaks among human communities. Details about the exact nature of the droplets produced by human respiratory activities such as breathing, and their potential to carry and transmit influenza A and B viruses is still not fully understood. The objective of our study was to characterize and quantify influenza viral shedding in exhaled aerosols from natural patient breath, and to determine their viral infectivity among participants in a university cohort in tropical Singapore. Using the Gesundheit-II exhaled breath sampling apparatus, samples of exhaled breath of two aerosol size fractions ("coarse" > 5 µm and "fine" ≤ 5 µm) were collected and analyzed from 31 study participants, i.e., 24 with influenza A (including H

SUBMITTER: Chow VTK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10612062 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature