Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks
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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.
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Materials used in disposable procedure/surgical masks afford better filtration than homemade masks but typically are substantially less efficient than N95 FFR materials.
“Materials used in disposable procedure/surgical masks afford better filtration than homemade masks but typically are substantially less efficient than N95 FFR materials [45, 56, 68].”
From The protective performance of reusable cloth face masks, disposable procedure masks, KN95 masks and N95 respirators: Filtration and total inward leakage (2021) · cites this paper as [56]
The Introduction and Discussion address how surgical masks affect respiratory-virus shedding, not the filtration efficiency of mask materials. Searches for homemade masks and N95 materials found no comparison with surgical-mask materials in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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- Authors
- Leung, N. H. L., Chu, D. K. W., Shiu, E. Y. C., Chan, K.-H., McDevitt, J. J., Hau, B. J. P., Yen, H.-L., Li, Y., Ip, D. K. M., Peiris, J. S. M., Seto, W.-H., Leung, G. M., Milton, D. K., & Cowling, B. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Harvard University (US)
- Queen Mary Hospital (CN)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cowling, Benjamin J.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature Medicine
- Published
- 2020-04-03
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 676-680
- ISSN
- 1078-8956 (ISSN-L)
- 1546-170X
- PMC
- PMC8238571
- OpenAlex
- W3014271510
- Cited by
- 2,270
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 43 · 2025: 98 · 2024: 166 · 2023: 232 · 2022: 400 · 2021: 683 · 2020: 643 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 276.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2020-05-27)
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nature Medicine (publishedVersion)
- Research Square (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- University Grants Committee (T11–705/14N)
- Food and Health Bureau
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U01IP000497, U01CI000446)
- Health and Medical Research Fund (13120592)
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (RC1AI086900)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Infection Control and Ventilation
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Respiratory viral infections research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
- Keywords
- exhaled breath, surgical masks, influenza virus, human coronaviruses, rhinovirus, respiratory droplets, aerosols, acute respiratory illness, virus transmission prevention, children and adults
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, Aerosols, Humans, Masks, Orthomyxoviridae, Pneumonia, Viral, Respiratory Tract Infections, RNA, Viral, Virus Shedding, Coronavirus Infections, Exhalation, Pandemics
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