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The term superspreader received a lot of attention during the COVID-19
pandemic. It is used to describe infected individuals who can spread the virus to multiple people (within the time they are contagious) and drive disease outbreaks. The basic reproduction number of COVID-19 it is estimated to be about three, this means that one contagious person can potentially infect three healthy people. However, super speakers have been observed to infect far more people, in some cases even more than 100 people.
Now, a group of researchers from the University of Central Florida say that by studying the dynamics of sneezing, they have found why some people are super-spread – something not many studies have covered so far.
The study results are published in the journal Fluid physics.
I study
The researchers used computer models to study droplet dispersion from a sneeze of various people by modifying multiple factors including anatomy, health, stress, and sex.
In particular, the following variations were studied: effects of saliva properties, effects of the structure of the buccal cavity and the nasal passage and how they change by the person.
Results
Two features, in particular, have been found associated with an increased risk of overdiffusion: nasal congestion and a full set of teeth.
Nasal congestion was found to lead to a 300% increase in droplet content at a distance of six feet. In a press release from the University of Central Florida, the study authors explained that a clear nose provides an easy passage for sneezing droplets; however, in case of congestion, it is not possible for the droplets to escape easily. Hence, the sneezing droplets come out at a faster rate through the mouth.
A similar effect is observed in people with a full set of teeth, where the teeth restrict the passage of sneezing droplets.
The study suggested that those with a full set of teeth and a congested nose had a 60 percent greater spread of sneezing droplets than those who did not.
Additionally, those with thinner saliva produced smaller sneeze droplets that remained in the air for longer periods of time.
Previous tests
We already know that people who release more droplets while sneezing or coughing are more likely to be super diffusers.
A previous study conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology indicated that several factors, most notably viral load (the amount of virus in a person’s body) determine whether a patient will be a superspreader.
However, there is no estimate of the number of viral particles released during a severe infection. Furthermore, it has been indicated that SARS-CoV-2, even if it is present in aerosols, may not be as effective in spreading the disease as the number of viral particles present in the droplets may not be sufficient. The rate at which the droplets settle on surfaces would determine the risk of airborne transmission.
A recent study conducted at MIT indicated that super diffusion events play a much more important role in diffusion COVID-19 than was expected.
For more information, read our article on Who super speakers are and how to stop them.
Health articles on Firstpost are written by myUpchar.com, India’s first and largest resource for verified medical information. At myUpchar, researchers and journalists work with doctors to provide you with information on everything related to health.
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