scholarly journals Airborne dispersion of droplets during coughing: a physical model of viral transmission

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongying Li ◽  
Fong Yew Leong ◽  
George Xu ◽  
Chang Wei Kang ◽  
Keng Hui Lim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Protection ◽  
Flow Simulation ◽  
Droplet Evaporation ◽  
Transmission Risk ◽  
Focused Attention ◽  
Droplet Dispersion ◽  
Airborne Transmission ◽  
Transmission Potential ◽  
Droplet Sizes ◽  
Low Humidity

AbstractThe Covid-19 pandemic has focused attention on airborne transmission of viruses. Using realistic air flow simulation, we model droplet dispersion from coughing and study the transmission risk related to SARS-CoV-2. Although this model defines most airborne droplets as 8–16 µm in diameter, we infer that larger droplets of 32–40 µm in diameter may potentially be more infectious due to higher viral content. Use of face masks is therefore recommended for both personal and social protection. We found social distancing effective at reducing transmission potential across all droplet sizes. However, the presence of a human body 1 m away modifies the aerodynamics so that downstream droplet dispersion is enhanced, which has implications on safe distancing in queues. At 1 m distance, we found that an average of 0.55 viral copies is inhaled for a cough at median loading, scalable up to 340 copies at peak loading. Droplet evaporation results in significant reduction in droplet counts, but airborne transmission remains possible even under low humidity conditions.

scholarly journals Ventilation procedures to minimize the airborne transmission of viruses at schools

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Stabile ◽  
A. Pacitto ◽  
A. Mikszewski ◽  
L. Morawska ◽  
G. Buonanno
Keyword(s):  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Transmission Risk ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Indoor Environments ◽  
Airborne Transmission ◽  
Transmission Potential ◽  
Feedback Control Strategy ◽  
Ventilation Rates

AbstractReducing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through indoor air is the key challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic. Crowded indoor environments, such as schools, represent possible hotspots for virus transmission since the basic non-pharmaceutical mitigation measures applied so far (e.g. social distancing) do not eliminate the airborne transmission mode. There is widespread consensus that improved ventilation is needed to minimize the transmission potential of airborne viruses in schools, whether through mechanical systems or ad-hoc manual airing procedures in naturally ventilated buildings. However, there remains significant uncertainty surrounding exactly what ventilation rates are required, and how to best achieve these targets with limited time and resources. This paper uses a mass balance approach to quantify the ability of both mechanical ventilation and ad-hoc airing procedures to mitigate airborne transmission risk in the classroom environment. For naturally-ventilated classrooms, we propose a novel feedback control strategy using CO2 concentrations to continuously monitor and adjust the airing procedure. Our case studies show how such procedures can be applied in the real world to support the reopening of schools during the pandemic. Our results also show the inadequacy of relying on absolute CO2 concentration thresholds as the sole indicator of airborne transmission risk.

scholarly journals Livestock movement informs the risk of disease spread in traditional production systems in East Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Divine Ekwem ◽  
Thomas A. Morrison ◽  
Richard Reeve ◽  
Jessica Enright ◽  
Joram Buza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Herd Size ◽  
Transmission Risk ◽  
Disease Spread ◽  
Transmission Potential ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Transmission Distance ◽  
Risk Of Disease

AbstractIn Africa, livestock are important to local and national economies, but their productivity is constrained by infectious diseases. Comprehensive information on livestock movements and contacts is required to devise appropriate disease control strategies; yet, understanding contact risk in systems where herds mix extensively, and where different pathogens can be transmitted at different spatial and temporal scales, remains a major challenge. We deployed Global Positioning System collars on cattle in 52 herds in a traditional agropastoral system in western Serengeti, Tanzania, to understand fine-scale movements and between-herd contacts, and to identify locations of greatest interaction between herds. We examined contact across spatiotemporal scales relevant to different disease transmission scenarios. Daily cattle movements increased with herd size and rainfall. Generally, contact between herds was greatest away from households, during periods with low rainfall and in locations close to dipping points. We demonstrate how movements and contacts affect the risk of disease spread. For example, transmission risk is relatively sensitive to the survival time of different pathogens in the environment, and less sensitive to transmission distance, at least over the range of the spatiotemporal definitions of contacts that we explored. We identify times and locations of greatest disease transmission potential and that could be targeted through tailored control strategies.

scholarly journals Imidocarb Dipropionate Clears Persistent Babesia caballi Infection with Elimination of Transmission Potential

2009 ◽  
Vol 53 (10) ◽  
pp. 4327-4332 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Nicolas Schwint ◽  
Massaro W. Ueti ◽  
Guy H. Palmer ◽  
Lowell S. Kappmeyer ◽  
Melissa T. Hines ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antimicrobial Agents ◽  
Animal Movement ◽  
Pcr Amplification ◽  
Antimicrobial Treatment ◽  
Transmission Risk ◽  
High Dose ◽  
Babesia Caballi ◽  
Transmission Potential ◽  
Imidocarb Dipropionate ◽  
Direct Inoculation

ABSTRACT Antimicrobial treatment of persistent infection to eliminate transmission risk represents a specific challenge requiring compelling evidence of complete pathogen clearance. The limited repertoire of antimicrobial agents targeted at protozoal parasites magnifies this challenge. Using Babesia caballi as both a model and a specific apicomplexan pathogen for which evidence of the elimination of transmission risk is required for international animal movement, we tested whether a high-dose regimen of imidocarb dipropionate cleared infection from persistently infected asymptomatic horses and/or eliminated transmission risk. Clearance with elimination of transmission risk was supported by the following four specific lines of evidence: (i) inability to detect parasites by quantitative PCR and nested PCR amplification, (ii) conversion from seropositive to seronegative status, (iii) inability to transmit infection by direct inoculation of blood into susceptible recipient horses, and (iv) inability to transmit infection by ticks acquisition fed on the treated horses and subsequently transmission fed on susceptible horses. In contrast, untreated horses remained infected and capable of transmitting B. caballi using the same criteria. These findings establish that imidocarb dipropionate treatment clears B. caballi infection with confirmation of lack of transmission risk either by direct blood transfer or a high tick burden. Importantly, the treated horses revert to seronegative status according to the international standard for serologic testing and would be permitted to move between countries where the pathogen is endemic and countries that are free of the pathogen.

scholarly journals Risk assessment for long and short range airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2, indoors and outdoors, using carbon dioxide measurements.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Poydenot ◽  
Ismael Abdourahamane ◽  
Elsa Caplain ◽  
Samuel Der ◽  
Jacques Haiech ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Public Health Policy ◽  
Short Range ◽  
Epidemiological Data ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Viral Transmission ◽  
Transmission Risk ◽  
Reproduction Rate ◽  
Airborne Transmission

A quantitative analysis of the viral transmission risk in public spaces al- lows us to identify the dominant mechanisms that a proactive public health policy can act upon to reduce risk, and to evaluate the reduction of risk that can be obtained. The contribution of public spaces to the propa- gation of SARS-CoV-2 can be reduced to a level necessary for a declining epidemic, i.e. an overall reproduction rate below one. Here, we revisit the quantitative assessment of indoor and outdoor transmission risk. We show that the long-range aerosol transmission is controlled by the flow rate of fresh air and by the mask filtering quality, and is quantitatively re- lated to the CO2 concentration, regardless the room volume and the num- ber of people. The short-range airborne transmission is investigated ex- perimentally using dedicated dispersion experiments performed in two shopping malls. Exhaled aerosols are dispersed by turbulent draughts in a cone, leading to a concentration inversely proportional to the squared dis- tance and to the flow velocity. We show that the average infection dose, called the viral quantum, can be determined from epidemiological data in a manner consistent with biological experimental data. Practical implications. The results provide quantitative guidance useful for making rational public health policy decisions to prevent the dominant routes of viral transmission through reinforced ventilation, air purification, mechanical dispersion using fans, and incentivizing the wear- ing of correctly fitted, quality facial masks (surgical masks, possibly cov- ered by another fabric mask, or non-medical FFP2 masks). Taken to- gether, such measures significantly reduce the airborne transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2.

Evaporation of Silver-Graphene Hybrid Nanofluid Droplet on its Nanostructured Residue and Plain Copper Surfaces at Elevated Temperatures

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farooq Riaz Siddiqui ◽  
Chi Yan Tso ◽  
Sau Chung Fu ◽  
Huihe Qiu ◽  
Christopher Yu Hang Chao
Keyword(s):  
Substrate Temperature ◽  
Evaporation Rate ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Droplet Evaporation ◽  
Copper Surface ◽  
Copper Plate ◽  
Hybrid Nanofluid ◽  
Copper Surfaces ◽  
Latent Energy ◽  
Droplet Sizes

Abstract Droplet evaporation is an efficient process as it removes a large amount of heat by using the latent energy, making it suitable for heat transfer applications. In this research, evaporation of the silver-graphene hybrid nanofluid (SGHF) droplet, because of its synergistic thermal conductivity, is investigated for substrate temperature in a range of 25–100 °C. The experiments for droplet evaporation were performed in an environmental facility for two droplet sizes, 3 μL and 30 μL volume, on a copper plate. A 100 W silicone heater mat was used to heat the copper plate from the underside, while two T-type thermocouples were used to monitor its surface temperature. As droplet evaporation ended, a porous residue was formed on the copper surface. Subsequently, a 3 μL volume of the SGHF droplet was dispensed on the porous residue surface. The results showed a tremendous rise in the evaporation rate (up to 160%) for the subsequent SGHF droplet sitting on the porous residue as compared to the non-wetted copper surface. Moreover, the evaporation rate of the SGHF droplet on the copper surface increased up to 56% as compared to the water droplet for a substrate temperature range of 25–100 °C.

scholarly journals Interaction of droplet dispersion and evaporation in a polydispersed spray

2018 ◽  
Vol 846 ◽  
pp. 37-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Sahu ◽  
Y. Hardalupas ◽  
A. M. K. P. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Correlation Coefficient ◽  
Mass Fraction ◽  
Slip Velocity ◽  
Droplet Evaporation ◽  
Water Spray ◽  
Number Density ◽  
Scatter Plot ◽  
Droplet Dispersion ◽  
Instantaneous Values ◽  
The Mean

The interaction between droplet dispersion and evaporation in an acetone spray evaporating under ambient conditions is experimentally studied with an aim to understand the physics behind the spatial correlation between the local vapour mass fraction and droplets. The influence of gas-phase turbulence and droplet–gas slip velocity of such correlations is examined, while the focus is on the consequence of droplet clustering on collective evaporation of droplet clouds. Simultaneous and planar measurements of droplet size, velocity and number density, and vapour mass fraction around the droplets, were obtained by combining the interferometric laser imaging for droplet sizing and planar laser induced fluorescence techniques (Sahuet al.,Exp. Fluids, vol. 55, 1673, 2014b, pp. 1–21). Comparison with droplet measurements in a non-evaporating water spray under the same flow conditions showed that droplet evaporation leads to higher fluctuations of droplet number density and velocity relative to the respective mean values. While the mean droplet–gas slip velocity was found to be negligibly small, the vaporization Damköhler number ($Da_{v}$) was approximately ‘one’, which means the droplet evaporation time and the characteristic time scale of large eddies are of the same order. Thus, the influence of the convective effect on droplet evaporation is not expected to be significant in comparison to the instantaneous fluctuations of slip velocity, which refers to the direct effect of turbulence. An overall linearly increasing trend was observed in the scatter plot of the instantaneous values of droplet number density ($N$) and vapour mass fraction ($Y_{F}$). Accordingly, the correlation coefficient of fluctuations of vapour mass fraction and droplet number density ($R_{n\ast y}$) was relatively high (${\approx}0.5$) implying moderately high correlation. However, considerable spread of the$N$versus$Y_{F}$scatter plot along both coordinates demonstrated the influence on droplet evaporation due to turbulent droplet dispersion, which leads to droplet clustering. The presence of droplet clustering was confirmed by the measurement of spatial correlation coefficient of the fluctuations of droplet number density for different size classes ($R_{n\ast n}$) and the radial distribution function (RDF) of the droplets. Also, the tendency of the droplets to form clusters was higher for the acetone spray than the water spray, indicating that droplet evaporation promoted droplet grouping in the spray. The instantaneous group evaporation number ($G$) was evaluated from the measured length scale of droplet clusters (by the RDF) and the average droplet size and spacing in instantaneous clusters. The mean value of$G$suggests an internal group evaporation mode of the droplet clouds near the spray centre, while single droplet evaporation prevails near the spray boundary. However, the large fluctuations in the magnitude of instantaneous values of$G$at all measurement locations implied temporal variations in the mode of droplet cloud evaporation.

Influence of Hardware Design on the Flow Field Structures and the Patterns of Droplet Dispersion: Part I — Mean Quantities

1993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Yu Wang ◽  
Vincent G. McDonell ◽  
Scott Samuelsen
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Laser Sheet ◽  
Continuous Phase ◽  
Dispersed Phase ◽  
Droplet Dispersion ◽  
Turbine Engine ◽  
Phase Doppler Interferometry ◽  
Air Stream ◽  
Expansion Angle ◽  
Droplet Sizes

In a gas turbine engine combustor, performance is likely tied to the spatial distribution of the fuel injected into the dome. The GE/SNECMA CFM56 combustor swirl cup is one example of a design established to provide a uniform presentation of droplets to the dome. The present study is part of a series to detail the dispersion of droplets in practical hardware, and to assess the effect of isolated parameters on the continuous- and dispersed-phase distributions. In this study, the influence of the swirling air outlet geometry is evaluated relative to the effect on the flow field structures and the patterns of droplet dispersion. This is accomplished by comparing the continuous-phase (air in the presence of a spray) and dispersed-phase (droplets) behavior downstream of the swirl cup assembly outfitted with two different conical expansions (“flares”). One features a narrow expansion angle, the other possesses a wide expansion angle. Two-component phase Doppler interferometry was employed to provide the information of droplet size and velocity components as well as continuous-phase velocity components. Photographs of light scattered by droplets from a laser sheet were used for the study of flow field structures. This study reveals that (1) the air stream issued from the narrow flare remains close to the centerline and expands gradually downstream while the air stream issued from the wide flare expands immediately downstream of the swirl cup, and (2) the narrow flare provides weaker droplet dispersion, slower decay of droplet velocities, and finer droplet sizes compared to the wide flare. The results demonstrate that a relatively modest change in flare geometry can create a significant change in the structure of both the continuous and dispersed phases.

The Potential for Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Sport: A Cricket Case Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rory England ◽  
Nicholas Peirce ◽  
Thamindu Wedatilake ◽  
Joseph Torresi ◽  
Simon Kemp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Relative Orientation ◽  
Transmission Risk ◽  
Risk Category ◽  
Airborne Transmission ◽  
Event Duration ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Video Footage ◽  
Compound Effect

AbstractA review of risk factors affecting airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 was synthesised into an ‘easy-to-apply’ visual framework. Using this framework, video footage from two cricket matches were visually analysed, one pre-COVID-19 pandemic and one ‘COVID-19 aware’ game in early 2020. The number of opportunities for one participant to be exposed to biological secretions belonging to another participant was recorded as an exposure, as was the estimated severity of exposure as defined from literature. Events were rated based upon distance between subjects, relative orientation of the subjects, droplet generating activity performed (e. g., talking) and event duration. In analysis we reviewed each risk category independently and the compound effect of an exposure i. e., the product of the scores across all categories. With the application of generic, non-cricket specific, social distancing recommendations and general COVID-19 awareness, the number of exposures per 100 balls was reduced by 70%. More impressive was the decrease in the most severe compound ratings (those with two or more categories scored with the highest severity) which was 98% and the reduction in exposures with a proximity <1 m, 96%. Analysis of the factors effecting transmission risk indicated that cricket was likely to present a low risk, although this conclusion was somewhat arbitrary omitting a comparison with a non-cricketing activity.

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