Various pathogen-laden aerosol deposition in the realistic human airway during inhalation

¹ School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
² BEEE, Southeast University, Nanjing, China

^* Corresponding author: qianh@seu.edu.cn

Abstract

Studying the deposition of different pathogens with various sizes and shapes is vital for understanding various respiratory infectious diseases. Few studies focus on the deposition of pathogen-laden aerosol during inhalation, especially for different respiratory infectious pathogens. This paper studied the depositions of H3N2, SAR-CoV-2, Ebola virus, Escherichia coli, and different sizes of droplets in the realistic human respiratory airway during inhalation. And results show that large droplets are mainly deposited in the upper respiratory tract, while most of the small particles, especially viruses, will transmit to somewhere further than bronchi-G7 and be deposited into the deep lobes of the lungs. Over 90% of single virus particles will inhale into lobes. The deposition efficiency of pathogens in the right lobes is significantly higher than that in the left, and this phenomenon is more obvious in the superior lobes, which may also explain why lung carcinomas are more likely to develop in the right lung. Compared with other viruses, SARS-CoV-2 is more inhaled into the right superior lobe, which should be paid attention to. This paper may help learn about various respiratory infectious diseases and provide references for treatment methods and drug delivery locations.