Chapter 13 - Aerosolized airborne bacteria and viruses inhalation: Micro-bioaerosols deposition effects through upper nasal airway inhalation

Abstract

The study of bacterial and viral aerosols effects on the human respiratory system is essential to improve prevention, management, and treatment of respiratory diseases. Microbioaerosols may transmit in conversation even while wearing common N95 respiratory masks as “silent spreaders.” Because of the complexity when measuring this process, it is modeled in this chapter for a condition when breathing through the nose, indoors, and for three activity levels. Due to their tiny size, bacterial and viral aerosols can travel to the terminal airways of the respiratory system and form severe health hazards. This chapter investigates bioaerosol transport and deposition in the upper airways and their throughput to the lungs. The ANSYS 2021 R1 solver is used to simulate the bioaerosol transport through the respiratory system. Numerical results demonstrate that a lower percentage of the microbioaerosols are trapped in the upper airways when resting and in a light activity condition, so that at 6L/min and 15L/min flow rates the average lung contamination percentage is more than 87%. Thus, for all inlet flow rates of less than 30L/min the average bacterial and viral contamination percentage in the upper respiratory tract is less than 50%, and more than 50% in the lungs. This chapter provides a model of bacterial and viral aerosol transport through the respiratory system to inform lung health risk assessment and prevention.