Abstract

We identified seasonal human coronaviruses, influenza viruses and rhinoviruses in exhaled breath and coughs of children and adults with acute respiratory illness. Surgical face masks significantly reduced detection of influenza virus RNA in respiratory droplets and coronavirus RNA in aerosols, with a trend toward reduced detection of coronavirus RNA in respiratory droplets. Our results indicate that surgical face masks could prevent transmission of human coronaviruses and influenza viruses from symptomatic individuals. A study of 246 individuals with seasonal respiratory virus infections randomized to wear or not wear a surgical face mask showed that masks can significantly reduce detection of coronavirus and influenza virus in exhaled breath and may help interrupt virus transmission.

Keywords

Respiratory systemVirusVirologyCoronavirusViral sheddingMedicineTransmission (telecommunications)Face masksSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Influenza A virusPneumoniaInternal medicineDisease

MeSH Terms

AerosolsCOVID-19Coronavirus InfectionsExhalationHumansMasksOrthomyxoviridaePandemicsPneumoniaViralRNAViralRespiratory Tract InfectionsVirus Shedding

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Publication Info

Year
2020
Type
article
Volume
26
Issue
5
Pages
676-680
Citations
2314
Access
Closed

External Links

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Cite This

Nancy Leung, Daniel K. W. Chu, Eunice Y. C. Shiu et al. (2020). Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks. Nature Medicine , 26 (5) , 676-680. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0843-2

Identifiers

DOI
10.1038/s41591-020-0843-2
PMID
32371934
PMCID
PMC8238571

Data Quality

Data completeness: 86%