Table 1.
Investigations of the diameter of particles generated from human respiratory activities.
| Particle size range (μm) of natural respiratory activities and the methods of measuring |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type of infection | Breathing | talking | coughing | sneezing | Methods of measuring size | Study | Year |
| Healthy subjects | <0.6 | <0.6 | <0.6 | – | Optical Particle Counter (OPC) (Optical diffraction) |
Papineni et al. (Papineni and Rosenthal, 1997) | 1997 |
| Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection | – | ≤3.3 | – | Andersen Cascade Impactor (Pacitto et al.) (Impaction) |
Fennelly et al. (Fennelly et al., 2004) | 2004 | |
| Healthy subjects | 015–0.19 | – | – | – | OPC (Optical diffraction) | Edwards et al. (Edwards et al., 2004) | 2004 |
| Healthy subjects | – | 0.62–15.9 DN: (0.58–5.42) |
– | Aerodynamic Particle Sizer (George et al.) (Time-of-flight, TOF) Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) (Electrical mobility) |
Yang et al. (Yang et al., 2007) | 2007 | |
| Unknown viral spp. | 0.3–0.5 | – | – | – | OPC (Optical diffraction) | Fabian et al. (Fabian et al., 2008) | 2008 |
| Healthy subject | – | <1 | – | APS (TOF) | Fang et al. (Fang et al., 2008) | 2008 | |
| Healthy subjects and infected subjects by unknow viral spp. | H:0.09-<0.16 I:0.09->9.97 |
– | – | – | Electrical Low-Pressure Impactor (ELPI) (Impaction) |
Hersen et al. (Hersen et al., 2008) | 2008 |
| Healthy subjects | 0.1–1 | 0.1–1 | 0.1–1 | – | APS (TOF) | Morawska et al. (Morawska et al., 2009) | 2008 |
| Heathy subjects | ≈0.3–3 | – | – | – | APS (TOF) | Johnson et al. (Johnson and Morawska, 2009) | 2009 |
| Healthy subjects | – | 4–8 | 4–8 | – | Interferometric Mie Imaging (IMI) (Mie scattering) |
Chao et al. (Chao et al., 2009) | 2009 |
| Healthy subjects | – | 50–75 | 50–75 | – | Droplet deposition (Analytical microscopy) Dust Monitor (Optical diffraction) |
Xie et al. (Xie et al., 2009) | 2009 |
| Healthy subjects | 0.4–1.1 | – | 0.4–10 | 0.4–4 | APS (TOF) | Morawska et al. (Morawska et al., 2008) | 2009 |
| Bacterial, unknown infection | – | – | ≤3.3 | – | ACI (Impaction) | Wainwright et al. (Wainwright et al., 2009) | 2009 |
| Healthy subjects | 0.3–0.4 | – | – | – | OPC (Optical diffraction) | Almstrand et al. (Almstrand et al., 2010) | 2010 |
| Healthy subjects | 0.1–7 | – | – | – | Laser Spectrometer (TOF) | Haslbeck et al. (Haslbeck et al., 2010) | 2010 |
| Healthy subjects | OPC: 0.4–4 SMPS:0.01–0.3 |
– | – | – | OPC (Optical diffraction) SMPS (Electrical mobility) | Holmgren et al. (Holmgren et al., 2010) | 2010 |
| Heathy subjects | – | 0.1–1000 | 0.01–1000 | – | APS (TOF) Droplet deposition analysis |
Johnson et al. (Johnson et al., 2011) | 2011 |
| 3 healthy and 16 human rhinovirus (HRV)-infected subjects | 0.3–0.5 | – | – | – | OPC with nominal diameter-size bins ranging between 0.3 μm and 10 mm | Patricia Fabian et al. (Fabian et al., 2011) | 2011 |
| Influenza, before and after recovery | – | – | H: 0.57–0.89 I: 0.57–0.71 |
– | Laser Spectrometer (TOF) | Lindsley et al. (Lindsley et al., 2012) | 2012 |
| Influenza A and B, parainfluenza 1, 2 and 3, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), human metapneumovirus and human rhinoviruses (hRV) | 58% of participants produced particles >5 μm and 80% produced particles (≤5 μm) | 57% of participants produced particles >5 μm and 82% produced particles (≤5 μm) | – | ACI (Impaction) | Jan Gralton et al. (Gralton et al., 2013) | 2013 | |
| Healthy subjects | – | – | – | First mode: 40–200, Second mode: 200-1000 | Laser Spectrometer (TOF) | Z. Y. Han et al. (Han et al., 2013) | 2013 |
| Healthy subjects | – | ≈0.5–10 | – | – | APS (TOF) | Sima Asadi et al. (Asadi et al., 2019) | 2019 |
Key: H: Healthy; I: Infected; DN: Droplet nuclei.