UCF Researchers Identify Features That Could Make Someone a Virus Super-Spreader
BY ROBERT WELLS
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New research
from the University of Central Florida has identified physiological features
that could make people super-spreaders of viruses such as COVID-19.
In a study
appearing this month in the journal Physics of Fluids, researchers in UCF’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering used
computer-generated models to numerically simulate sneezes in different types of
people and determine associations between people’s physiological features and
how far their sneeze droplets travel and linger in the air.
They found that
people’s features, like a stopped-up nose or a full set of teeth, could
increase their potential to spread viruses by affecting how far droplets travel
when they sneeze.
According to the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the main way people are
infected by the virus that causes COVID-19 is through exposure to respiratory
droplets, such as from sneezes and coughs that are carrying infectious virus.
Knowing more
about factors affecting how far these droplets travel can inform efforts to
control their spread, says Michael Kinzel, an assistant professor with UCF’s
Department of Mechanical Engineering and study co-author.
“This is the first study that aims to understand the underlying ‘why’ of how far sneezes travel,” Kinzel says. “We show that the human body has influencers, such as a complex duct system associated with the nasal flow that actually disrupts the jet from your mouth and prevents it from dispersing droplets far distances.”
For instance,
when people have a clear nose, such as from blowing it into a tissue, the speed
and distance sneeze droplets travel decrease, according to the study.
This is because
a clear nose provides a path in addition to the mouth for the sneeze to exit.
But when people’s noses are congested, the area that the sneeze can exit is restricted,
thus causing sneeze droplets expelled from the mouth to increase in velocity.
Similarly, teeth
also restrict the sneeze’s exit area and cause droplets to increase in
velocity.
“Teeth create a
narrowing effect in the jet that makes it stronger and more turbulent,” Kinzel
says. “They actually appear to drive transmission. So, if you see someone
without teeth, you can actually expect a weaker jet from the sneeze from them.”
To perform the
study, the researchers used 3D modeling and numerical simulations to recreate
four mouth and nose types: a person with teeth and a clear nose; a person with
no teeth and a clear nose; a person with no teeth and a congested nose; and a
person with teeth and a congested nose.
When they
simulated sneezes in the different models, they found that the spray distance
of droplets expelled when a person has a congested nose and a full set of teeth
is about 60 percent greater than when they do not.
The results
indicate that when someone keeps their nose clear, such as by blowing it into a
tissue, that they could be reducing the distance their germs travel.
The researchers
also simulated three types of saliva: thin, medium and thick.
They found that
thinner saliva resulted in sneezes comprised of smaller droplets, which created
a spray and stayed in the air longer than medium and thick saliva.
For instance,
three seconds after a sneeze, when thick saliva was reaching the ground and
thus diminishing its threat, the thinner saliva was still floating in the air
as a potential disease transmitter.
The work ties
back to the researchers’ project to create a COVID-19 cough drop that would give
people thicker saliva to reduce the distance droplets from a sneeze or cough
would travel, and thus decrease disease-transmission likelihood.
The findings
yield novel insight into variability of exposure distance and indicate how
physiological factors affect transmissibility rates, says Kareem Ahmed, an
associate professor in UCF’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
and study co-author.
“The results
show exposure levels are highly dependent on the fluid dynamics that can vary
depending on several human features,” Ahmed says. “Such features may be
underlying factors driving superspreading events in the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The researchers
say they hope to move the work toward clinical studies next to compare their
simulation findings with those from real people from varied backgrounds.
Study co-authors
were Douglas Fontes, a postdoctoral researcher with the Florida Space Institute and the study’s
lead author, and Jonathan Reyes, a postdoctoral researcher in UCF’s Department
of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
Fontes says to
advance the findings of the study, the research team wants to investigate the
interactions between gas flow, mucus film and tissue structures within the
upper respiratory tract during respiratory events.
“Numerical
models and experimental techniques should work side by side to provide accurate
predictions of the primary breakup inside the upper respiratory tract during
those events,” he says.
“This research
potentially will provide information for more accurate safety measures and
solutions to reduce pathogen transmission, giving better conditions to deal
with the usual diseases or with pandemics in the future,” he says.
The work was
funded by the National Science Foundation.