Some bacteria were thought to be released when a person breathed, but much less than by coughing.
But if an infected person breathes 22,000 times per day while coughing up to 500 times, then coughing accounts for as little as 7 percent of the total bacteria emitted by an infected patient, Mr.
As with Covid, some TB patients spread the disease to many people — and may release a lot of bacteria — while others infect few people around them.But even if 90 percent of the bacteria expelled by an infected person were carried in aerosols, this route of transmission wouldn’t necessarily account for 90 percent of new cases, cautioned Dr.
The apparatus can collect aerosols from infected people and identify bacteria within them.