Impact of Chemical Properties of Human Respiratory Droplets and Aerosol Particles on Airborne Viruses’ Viability and Indoor Transmission
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 pa...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Viruses |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/14/7/1497 |
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| author | Ajit Ahlawat Sumit Kumar Mishra Hartmut Herrmann Pradhi Rajeev Tarun Gupta Vikas Goel Yele Sun Alfred Wiedensohler |
| author_facet | Ajit Ahlawat Sumit Kumar Mishra Hartmut Herrmann Pradhi Rajeev Tarun Gupta Vikas Goel Yele Sun Alfred Wiedensohler |
| author_sort | Ajit Ahlawat |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T10:10:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-883617b139934eb0b83991f59e9f71cc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4915 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T10:10:32Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Viruses |
| spelling | doaj.art-883617b139934eb0b83991f59e9f71cc2023-12-01T22:47:17ZengMDPI AGViruses1999-49152022-07-01147149710.3390/v14071497Impact of Chemical Properties of Human Respiratory Droplets and Aerosol Particles on Airborne Viruses’ Viability and Indoor TransmissionAjit Ahlawat0Sumit Kumar Mishra1Hartmut Herrmann2Pradhi Rajeev3Tarun Gupta4Vikas Goel5Yele Sun6Alfred Wiedensohler7Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, 04318 Leipzig, GermanyCSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi 110012, IndiaLeibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, 04318 Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur 208016, IndiaDepartment of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur 208016, IndiaSchool of Interdisciplinary Research, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi 110016, IndiaLAPC, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100017, ChinaLeibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, 04318 Leipzig, GermanyThe 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.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/14/7/1497SARS-CoV-2aerosol particlesdropletschemical compositionpHairborne |
| spellingShingle | Ajit Ahlawat Sumit Kumar Mishra Hartmut Herrmann Pradhi Rajeev Tarun Gupta Vikas Goel Yele Sun Alfred Wiedensohler Impact of Chemical Properties of Human Respiratory Droplets and Aerosol Particles on Airborne Viruses’ Viability and Indoor Transmission Viruses SARS-CoV-2 aerosol particles droplets chemical composition pH airborne |
| title | Impact of Chemical Properties of Human Respiratory Droplets and Aerosol Particles on Airborne Viruses’ Viability and Indoor Transmission |
| title_full | Impact of Chemical Properties of Human Respiratory Droplets and Aerosol Particles on Airborne Viruses’ Viability and Indoor Transmission |
| title_fullStr | Impact of Chemical Properties of Human Respiratory Droplets and Aerosol Particles on Airborne Viruses’ Viability and Indoor Transmission |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of Chemical Properties of Human Respiratory Droplets and Aerosol Particles on Airborne Viruses’ Viability and Indoor Transmission |
| title_short | Impact of Chemical Properties of Human Respiratory Droplets and Aerosol Particles on Airborne Viruses’ Viability and Indoor Transmission |
| title_sort | impact of chemical properties of human respiratory droplets and aerosol particles on airborne viruses viability and indoor transmission |
| topic | SARS-CoV-2 aerosol particles droplets chemical composition pH airborne |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/14/7/1497 |
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