Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, 04318 Leipzig, Germany.
CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi 110012, India.
Viruses. 2022 Jul 8;14(7):1497. doi: 10.3390/v14071497.
The airborne transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been identified as a potential pandemic challenge, especially in poorly ventilated indoor environments, such as certain hospitals, schools, public buildings, and transports. The impacts of meteorological parameters (temperature and humidity) and physical property (droplet size) on the airborne transmission of coronavirus in indoor settings have been previously investigated. However, the impacts of chemical properties of viral droplets and aerosol particles (i.e., chemical composition and acidity (pH)) on viability and indoor transmission of coronavirus remain largely unknown. Recent studies suggest high organic content (proteins) in viral droplets and aerosol particles supports prolonged survival of the virus by forming a glassy gel-type structure that restricts the virus inactivation process under low relative humidity (RH). In addition, the virus survival was found at neutral pH, and inactivation was observed to be best at low (<5) and high pH (>10) values (enveloped bacteriophage Phi6). Due to limited available information, this article illustrates an urgent need to research the impact of chemical properties of exhaled viral particles on virus viability. This will improve our fundamental understanding of indoor viral airborne transmission mechanisms.
空气中传播的严重急性呼吸系统综合征冠状病毒 2(SARS-CoV-2)已被确定为一种潜在的大流行挑战,特别是在通风不良的室内环境中,如某些医院、学校、公共场所和交通工具。此前已经研究了气象参数(温度和湿度)和物理特性(液滴大小)对冠状病毒在室内环境中空气传播的影响。然而,病毒飞沫和气溶胶颗粒的化学性质(即化学组成和酸度(pH))对冠状病毒的存活和室内传播的影响在很大程度上仍然未知。最近的研究表明,病毒飞沫和气溶胶颗粒中的高有机含量(蛋白质)通过形成限制病毒在低相对湿度(RH)下失活过程的玻璃状凝胶型结构,支持病毒的长时间存活。此外,在中性 pH 值下发现病毒存活,并且在低(<5)和高(>10)pH 值(包膜噬菌体 Phi6)下观察到最佳失活。由于可用信息有限,本文说明了研究呼出病毒颗粒的化学性质对病毒存活能力的影响的迫切需要。这将提高我们对室内病毒空气传播机制的基本认识。