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Vuvuzelas can facilitate the transmission of infectious diseases
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
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British researchers have concluded that vuvuzelas can help transmit infectious diseases. This, coupled with high levels of noise pollution, is prompting organisers of the 2012 London Olympics to consider banning vuvuzelas from competitions.
A survey of World Cup spectators in South Africa has previously shown that mass use of these instruments can damage the eardrums of those around them. Scientists from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine have discovered another potential danger associated with their use.
Using a laser detector, the researchers studied the properties of the aerosol emitted through vuvuzelas blown by eight volunteers. It turned out that a liter of air leaving the respiratory tract through a vuvuzela contains an average of 658,000 aerosol particles that may contain pathogenic microbes. The average rate of entry of these particles into the atmosphere was four million per second.
By comparison, the same volunteers emitted an average of 3,700 aerosol particles per liter of air when shouting, at a rate of about seven thousand particles per second. Therefore, fans blowing the vuvuzela pose a significantly higher risk to those around them than those simply shouting.
However, study leader Ruth McNerney said it would be more appropriate to introduce "vuvuzela etiquette" rather than ban them. "As with coughing and sneezing, precautions should be taken to prevent the transmission of diseases, and people with infections are strongly advised not to blow into a vuvuzela near others," she explained.