Department of Agricultural Civil Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 41566, South Korea; Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, University of Ilorin, PMB 1515, Ilorin, 240103, Nigeria.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Federal University of Technology, PMB 704, Akure, Nigeria; Key Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, PR China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, PR China.
Environ Res. 2021 Sep;200:111373. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111373. Epub 2021 May 24.
The recent spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SAR-CoV-2) and the accompanied coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has continued ceaselessly despite the implementations of popular measures, which include social distancing and outdoor face masking as recommended by the World Health Organization. Due to the unstable nature of the virus, leading to the emergence of new variants that are claimed to be more and rapidly transmissible, there is a need for further consideration of the alternative potential pathways of the virus transmissions to provide the needed and effective control measures. This review aims to address this important issue by examining the transmission pathways of SARS-CoV-2 via indirect contacts such as fomites and aerosols, extending to water, food, and other environmental compartments. This is essentially required to shed more light regarding the speculation of the virus spread through these media as the available information regarding this is fragmented in the literature. The existing state of the information on the presence and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in water-food-environmental compartments is essential for cause-and-effect relationships of human interactions and environmental samples to safeguard the possible transmission and associated risks through these media. Furthermore, the integration of effective remedial measures previously used to tackle the viral outbreaks and pandemics, and the development of new sustainable measures targeting at monitoring and curbing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 were emphasized. This study concluded that alternative transmission pathways via human interactions with environmental samples should not be ignored due to the evolving of more infectious and transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants.
尽管世界卫生组织建议采取社交距离和户外戴口罩等流行措施，但严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒（SAR-CoV-2）的最近传播以及伴随的 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）仍在持续不断。由于病毒的不稳定性质，导致出现了据称更具传染性和传播速度更快的新变体，因此需要进一步考虑病毒传播的替代潜在途径，以提供必要和有效的控制措施。本综述旨在通过检查 SARS-CoV-2 通过间接接触（如污染物和飞沫）、扩展到水、食物和其他环境隔室的传播途径来解决这个重要问题。这是必要的，因为关于这些媒介传播病毒的推测的相关信息在文献中是零散的。了解 SARS-CoV-2 在水-食物-环境隔室中的存在和持久性的现有信息，对于人类相互作用和环境样本的因果关系至关重要，以保护通过这些媒介可能传播的风险。此外，强调了整合以前用于应对病毒爆发和大流行的有效补救措施，以及开发针对监测和遏制 SARS-CoV-2 传播的新可持续措施。本研究得出结论，由于更具传染性和传播性的 SARS-CoV-2 变体的出现，不应忽视通过人类与环境样本相互作用的替代传播途径。
