The Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control (ACIPC) has released a new position statement titled “Terminology for pathogens that transmit through the air”.
ACIPC’s position statement recommends terminology for pathogens that transmit through the air to be standardised as follows:
✅ Introduction of the term “infectious respiratory particles” (IRPs) to describe respiratory particles containing pathogens that travel through the air.
✅ Recognition of the spectrum of IRP particle sizes and moving away from using aerosols and droplets to define IRP size.
✅ The use of “transmission through the air” as the overarching term to describe the movement of IRPs, with subcategories of “airborne/inhalation” and “direct deposition”.
✅ The term “particulate filter respirators” (PFR) is used to replace P2/N95 respirators to provide consistency.
Read the full position statement by clicking the link below:
