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Direct Airborne
Most of the droplets that are expelled from the mouth during talking, coughing and sneezing fall quickly to the ground or onto the clothing of the person in question. A proportion of the expelled droplets are however so small that by rapid evaporation they remain suspended in the air like particles of smoke and may be carried to considerable distances by air current from the coughing or sneezing individuals by air currents.

These tiny droplets may contain infective material (virus infection) with the result that individuals at some distances from the infectious person may become infected. Among human infections, measles and chicken pox are spread in this way. It is inherent in this mode of spread that the infecting dose must often be very small.