Computational characterization of inhaled droplet transport in the upper airway leading to SARS-CoV-2 infection
Basu, S.
Show abstract
How human respiratory physiology and inhaled airflow therein proceed to impact transmission of SARS-CoV-2, leading to the initial infection, is an open question. An answer can help determine the susceptibility of an individual on exposure to a COVID-2019 carrier and can also quantify the still-unknown infectious dose for the disease. Combining computational fluid mechanics-based tracking of respiratory transport in anatomic domains with sputum assessment data from hospitalized COVID-19 patients and earlier measurements of ejecta size distribution during regular speech - this study shows that the regional deposition of virus-laden inhaled droplets at the initial nasopharyngeal infection sites, located in the upper airway, peaks over the droplet size range of 2.5 - 19 {micro}; and reveals that the number of virions that can potentially establish the infection is, at most, of[O] (102).
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