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Viral emissions into the air and environment after SARS-CoV-2 human challenge: a phase 1, open label, first-in-human study

Written by Andrew Catchpole | Apr 10, 2026 6:39:53 PM

Effectively implementing strategies to curb SARS-CoV-2 transmission requires understanding who is contagious and when. Although viral load on upper respiratory swabs has commonly been used to infer contagiousness, measuring viral emissions might be more accurate to indicate the chance of onward transmission and identify likely routes. We aimed to correlate viral emissions, viral load in the upper respiratory tract, and symptoms, longitudinally, in participants who were experimentally infected with SARS-CoV-2.