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Título del libro: Features, Transmission, Detection, And Case Studies In Covid-19
Título del capítulo: Indoor transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus through aerosols emitted by e-cigarettes

Autores UNAM:
ROBERTO ALLAN SUSSMAN LIVOVSKY;
Autores externos:

Idioma:

Año de publicación:
2024
Palabras clave:

Aerosol visibility; Bioaerosols; COVID-19; Electronic cigarettes; ENDS; Heated tobacco products; Infective quanta; Lockdowns; SARS-CoV-2; Tobacco Harm Reduction


Resumen:

Users of electronic cigarettes (ECs) exhale an aerosol that (if they are infected) likely transports respiratory particles that can harbor the SARS-CoV-2 virus (or other pathogens), as EC usage (?vaping?) is an episodic intermittent respiratory activity whose intensity is between mouth breathing and low-pitch vocalizing. However, bystanders can easily prevent direct contagion by avoiding exposure to the visible expired jet-puff system, facing involuntary potential risk only from small, desiccated droplet nuclei (?aerosols?) that follow surrounding air currents once the expired jet-puff has been dispersed (typically 2min after exhalation). Considering the two main levels of intensity of vaping and using the notion of emission of infective quanta, we recently employed an analytic risk model to vaping to assess COVID-19 infection risks from other respiratory activities in shared indoor microenvironments. We show that exhalations from low-intensity vaping (the overwhelming majority usage) contribute to only a small increase of 2%?3% of extra contagion risk with respect to a control state of excessive breathing with no one using ECs. The minority intense usage raises the risk probability to 7%?8%, well below the 40%?140% risk increase from speaking 6 to 24min per hour. Under certain nuances, these results can be extended to heated tobacco products and combustible cigarettes. © 2024 by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


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