Global implications of bio-aerosol in pandemic

摘要

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus which is suspected to be initiated from Wuhan city of China has been an immediate and urgent concern globally due to its rapid transmission rate. Coronavirus pandemic has spread over 126 countries and has taken the lives of thousands of people across the globe. Although the accurate pathogenesis of this virus is not yet decoded, it is established that this virus causes systemic failure of the respiratory system. It is also a well-established fact that this virus can spread through the dispersal of bio-aerosols by an infected individual. Bio-aerosols are now identified as major issue posing a threat to the environment and global health standards. Along with the presence of life-threatening respiratory viruses like COVID-19, bio-aerosols are also reported to contain toxic substances (i.e., volatile organic compounds (VoCs), heavy metals and harmful gases). Pathogenic microbes are also known to be transmitted through expulsion and settling of bio-aerosols (Kim et al. 2017). Ailments caused due to the propagation of such pathogens and their toxic constituents in the environment results in several diseases ranging from allergic asthma, cancer, localized and systemic organ failures (Humbal et al. 2018). It is well-established fact that the respiratory bio-aerosol expulsions of an infected person cause an exponential increase in the spread of respiratory tract viruses like COVID-19, SARS, MERS and HINI Influenza and are a major cause of the global pandemic. (Nunez et al. 2016).These viruses have shown the resilience over a wide range of physio-chemical conditions such as temperature and humidity which makes them a potential threat to mankind. Some of the well-reported bacterial pathogens such as Bordetella pertussis, Bacillus anthracis, Corynebacterium diphtheriae and Neisseria meningitidis are known to be transmitted via bio-aerosols causing collapse of the respiratory system and neurological abnormalities (GBD 2013). Certain species of pathogenic fungi such as Aspergillus fumig-atus, Fusarium moniliforme, Scedosporium apiospermum, and Mucorales spp. are commonly transmitted through bio-aerosols and are also known to cause localized and systemic organ infections, acute toxicity, hypersensitivity, and other respiratory abnormalities in immunocompromised patients (Jung et al. 2009). Many pathogens release toxic and immu-nogenic by-products endotoxins and P-glucans which may be transmitted through bio-aerosols and cause hyperactivity or repression of an individual's immune response leading to autoimmune diseases and several types of cancers (Kim et al. 2017). Both the short-term and long-term studies confirm that the exposure of an individual to bio-aerosols associated with daily variations of air pollutants impeaches a significant effect on the individual's health standards (Wu et al. 2015). Even low-level or short-term exposure to bio-aerosol has shown a significant pathophysiological effect on humans (Johnson and Choi 2012).