Modeling the impact of indoor relative humidity on the infection risk of five respiratory airborne viruses.

ABSTRACT: With a modified version of the Wells-Riley model, we simulated the size distribution and dynamics of five airborne viruses (measles, influenza, SARS-CoV-2, human rhinovirus, and adenovirus) emitted from a speaking person in a typical residential setting over a relative humidity (RH) range of 20-80% and air temperature of 20-25 °C. Besides the size transformation of virus-containing droplets due to evaporation, respiratory absorption, and then removal by gravitational settling, the modified model also considered the removal mechanism by ventilation. The trend and magnitude of RH impact depended on the respiratory virus. For rhinovirus and adenovirus humidifying the indoor air from 20/30 to 50% will be increasing the relative infection risk, however, this relative infection risk increase wil

SUBMITTER: Aganovic A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9261129 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature