masks: Masks and Influenza Exposure

In speegled/fosdata: Data for use with the book "Probability, Statistics, and Data: A Fresh Approach Using R", by Darrin Speegle and Bryan Clair

Masks and Influenza Exposure

Description

Fine and coarse influenza droplets that escape a surgical mask in laboratory setting.

Usage

masks

Format

A data frame with 37 observations of 7 variables.

obs

Observation number

mask_fine

viral copy number of fine particles (< 5 microns) for those wearing a mask, measured using quantitative RT-PCR

no_mask_fine

viral copy number of fine particules for those not wearing a mask

nasal_swab

viral load in the nasopharyngeal swab specimen

mask_coarse

viral copy number of coarse particles (> 5 microns) for those wearing a mask

no_mask_coarse

viral copy number of coarse particules for those not wearing a mask

pcr_type

A factor indicating which of two strains of influenza patient had

Details

Participants wore masks for 30 minutes while a machine gathered their exhalations. Participants were told to cough thirty times during the 30 minutes. One patient coughed naturally more than 30 times.

From the authors: "The CDC recommends that healthcare settings provide influenza patients with facemasks as a means of reducing transmission to staff and other patients, and a recent report suggested that surgical masks can capture influenza virus in large droplet spray. However, there is minimal data on influenza virus aerosol shedding, the infectiousness of exhaled aerosols, and none on the impact of facemasks on viral aerosol shedding from patients with seasonal influenza."

Source

Milton DK, Fabian MP, Cowling BJ, Grantham ML, McDevitt JJ (2013) Influenza Virus Aerosols in Human Exhaled Breath: Particle Size, Culturability, and Effect of Surgical Masks. PLoS Pathog 9(3): e1003205. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1003205

speegled/fosdata documentation built on Feb. 8, 2025, 8:17 a.m.