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Searching for SARS-COV-2 on Particulate Matter: A Possible Early Indicator of COVID-19 Epidemic Recurrence

A number of nations were forced to declare a total shutdown due to COVID-19 infection, as extreme measure to cope with dramatic impact of the pandemic, with remarkable consequences both in terms of negative health outcomes and economic loses. However, in many countries a “Phase-2” is approaching and...

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Autores principales: Setti, Leonardo, Passarini, Fabrizio, De Gennaro, Gianluigi, Barbieri, Pierluigi, Pallavicini, Alberto, Ruscio, Maurizio, Piscitelli, Prisco, Colao, Annamaria, Miani, Alessandro
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7246840/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32344853
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17092986
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author Setti, Leonardo
Passarini, Fabrizio
De Gennaro, Gianluigi
Barbieri, Pierluigi
Pallavicini, Alberto
Ruscio, Maurizio
Piscitelli, Prisco
Colao, Annamaria
Miani, Alessandro
author_facet Setti, Leonardo
Passarini, Fabrizio
De Gennaro, Gianluigi
Barbieri, Pierluigi
Pallavicini, Alberto
Ruscio, Maurizio
Piscitelli, Prisco
Colao, Annamaria
Miani, Alessandro
author_sort Setti, Leonardo
collection PubMed
description A number of nations were forced to declare a total shutdown due to COVID-19 infection, as extreme measure to cope with dramatic impact of the pandemic, with remarkable consequences both in terms of negative health outcomes and economic loses. However, in many countries a “Phase-2” is approaching and many activities will re-open soon, although with some differences depending on the severity of the outbreak experienced and SARS-COV-2 estimated diffusion in the general population. At the present, possible relapses of the epidemic cannot be excluded until effective vaccines or immunoprophylaxis with human recombinant antibodies will be properly set up and commercialized. COVD-19-related quarantines have triggered serious social challenges, so that decision makers are concerned about the risk of wasting all the sacrifices imposed to the people in these months of quarantine. The availability of possible early predictive indicators of future epidemic relapses would be very useful for public health purposes, and could potentially prevent the suspension of entire national economic systems. On 16 March, a Position Paper launched by the Italian Society of Environmental Medicine (SIMA) hypothesized for the first time a possible link between the dramatic impact of COVID-19 outbreak in Northern Italy and the high concentrations of particulate matter (PM(10) and PM(2.5)) that characterize this area, along with its well-known specific climatic conditions. Thereafter, a survey carried out in the U.S. by the Harvard School of Public Health suggested a strong association between increases in particulate matter concentration and mortality rates due to COVID-19. The presence of SARS-COV-2 RNA on the particulate matter of Bergamo, which is not far from Milan and represents the epicenter of the Italian epidemic, seems to confirm (at least in case of atmospheric stability and high PM concentrations, as it usually occurs in Northern Italy) that the virus can create clusters with the particles and be carried and detected on PM(10). Although no assumptions can be made concerning the link between this first experimental finding and COVID-19 outbreak progression or severity, the presence of SARS-COV-2 RNA on PM(10) of outdoor air samples in any city of the world could represent a potential early indicator of COVID-19 diffusion. Searching for the viral genome on particulate matter could therefore be explored among the possible strategies for adopting all the necessary preventive measures before future epidemics start.
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spelling pubmed-72468402020-06-02 Searching for SARS-COV-2 on Particulate Matter: A Possible Early Indicator of COVID-19 Epidemic Recurrence Setti, Leonardo Passarini, Fabrizio De Gennaro, Gianluigi Barbieri, Pierluigi Pallavicini, Alberto Ruscio, Maurizio Piscitelli, Prisco Colao, Annamaria Miani, Alessandro Int J Environ Res Public Health Editorial A number of nations were forced to declare a total shutdown due to COVID-19 infection, as extreme measure to cope with dramatic impact of the pandemic, with remarkable consequences both in terms of negative health outcomes and economic loses. However, in many countries a “Phase-2” is approaching and many activities will re-open soon, although with some differences depending on the severity of the outbreak experienced and SARS-COV-2 estimated diffusion in the general population. At the present, possible relapses of the epidemic cannot be excluded until effective vaccines or immunoprophylaxis with human recombinant antibodies will be properly set up and commercialized. COVD-19-related quarantines have triggered serious social challenges, so that decision makers are concerned about the risk of wasting all the sacrifices imposed to the people in these months of quarantine. The availability of possible early predictive indicators of future epidemic relapses would be very useful for public health purposes, and could potentially prevent the suspension of entire national economic systems. On 16 March, a Position Paper launched by the Italian Society of Environmental Medicine (SIMA) hypothesized for the first time a possible link between the dramatic impact of COVID-19 outbreak in Northern Italy and the high concentrations of particulate matter (PM(10) and PM(2.5)) that characterize this area, along with its well-known specific climatic conditions. Thereafter, a survey carried out in the U.S. by the Harvard School of Public Health suggested a strong association between increases in particulate matter concentration and mortality rates due to COVID-19. The presence of SARS-COV-2 RNA on the particulate matter of Bergamo, which is not far from Milan and represents the epicenter of the Italian epidemic, seems to confirm (at least in case of atmospheric stability and high PM concentrations, as it usually occurs in Northern Italy) that the virus can create clusters with the particles and be carried and detected on PM(10). Although no assumptions can be made concerning the link between this first experimental finding and COVID-19 outbreak progression or severity, the presence of SARS-COV-2 RNA on PM(10) of outdoor air samples in any city of the world could represent a potential early indicator of COVID-19 diffusion. Searching for the viral genome on particulate matter could therefore be explored among the possible strategies for adopting all the necessary preventive measures before future epidemics start. MDPI 2020-04-25 2020-05 /pmc/articles/PMC7246840/ /pubmed/32344853 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17092986 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Editorial
Setti, Leonardo
Passarini, Fabrizio
De Gennaro, Gianluigi
Barbieri, Pierluigi
Pallavicini, Alberto
Ruscio, Maurizio
Piscitelli, Prisco
Colao, Annamaria
Miani, Alessandro
Searching for SARS-COV-2 on Particulate Matter: A Possible Early Indicator of COVID-19 Epidemic Recurrence
title Searching for SARS-COV-2 on Particulate Matter: A Possible Early Indicator of COVID-19 Epidemic Recurrence
title_full Searching for SARS-COV-2 on Particulate Matter: A Possible Early Indicator of COVID-19 Epidemic Recurrence
title_fullStr Searching for SARS-COV-2 on Particulate Matter: A Possible Early Indicator of COVID-19 Epidemic Recurrence
title_full_unstemmed Searching for SARS-COV-2 on Particulate Matter: A Possible Early Indicator of COVID-19 Epidemic Recurrence
title_short Searching for SARS-COV-2 on Particulate Matter: A Possible Early Indicator of COVID-19 Epidemic Recurrence
title_sort searching for sars-cov-2 on particulate matter: a possible early indicator of covid-19 epidemic recurrence
topic Editorial
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7246840/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32344853
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17092986
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