%0 Letter
%T Snoring-generated fluid droplets as a potential mechanistic link between sleep-disordered breathing and pneumonia.
%A Kakeshpour T
%A Fennelly KP
%A Bax A
%J Respir Res
%V 25
%N 1
%D 2024 May 29
%M 38811937
暂无%R 10.1186/s12931-024-02856-5
%X The soft palate and back of the throat represent vulnerable early infection sites for SARS-CoV-2, influenza, streptococci, and many other pathogens. We demonstrate that snoring causes aerosolization of pharyngeal fluid that covers these surfaces, which previously has escaped detection because the inspired airstream carries the micron-sized droplets into the lung, inaccessible to traditional aerosol detectors. While many of these droplets will settle in the lower respiratory tract, a fraction of the respirable smallest droplets remains airborne and can be detected in exhaled breath. We distinguished these exhaled droplets from those generated by the underlying breathing activity by using a chemical tracer, thereby proving their existence. The direct transfer of pharyngeal fluids and their pathogens into the deep lung by snoring represents a plausible mechanistic link between the previously recognized association between sleep-disordered breathing and pneumonia incidence.