Vuvuzelas themselves have spread almost like a disease, but now it is becoming clear that they may also spread disease by creating a shower of aerosols from the lungs. A study in PLoS ONE has investigated the quantity and size of aerosols emitted when a vuvuzela is played. They used a six channel laser particle counter to detect the amount of emitted particles and compared that to the amount emitted during shouting. The vuvuzelas expelled 658,000 lung particles per litre of air at a rate of four million per second, while shouting resulted in only 3,700 particles per litre at a rate of 7,000 per second. The authors cautiously recommend that people with respiratory infections avoid blowing vuvuzelas in enclosed spaces and where there is a risk of infecting others. One more reason to ban these noise-making trumpets from the next World Cup! (of course along with shaking hands, coughing and other dangerous disease-spreading behavior).
Article in PLoS ONE: Propagation of Respiratory Aerosols by the Vuvuzela…