A new study has detected tiny airborne particles containing RNA from SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, in and around rooms where infected people are self-isolating at home.

The research has been published in the Annals of the Journal of the American Thoracic Society.

The study is the first report of household air pollution when household members are infected with SARS-CoV-2 RNA under typical daily life conditions. Airborne transmission in crowded living conditions may be one of the reasons for the higher rate of Covid-19 infection among low-income populations.

“The risk of infection from larger respiratory droplets that rapidly settle on surfaces (usually within two meters of the source) can be reduced by hand washing, social distancing, and wearing masks, but tiny respiratory particles remain suspended in the air for hours, requiring air Filtering, ventilation, or better masks to prevent,” said lead author Howard Keepen, a professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health and director of clinical research and occupational medicine at the Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences.

The researchers collected air samples from 11 households in the rooms where newly infected people were quarantined, as well as in adjacent public rooms, to test for the presence of three SARS-CoV-2-specific genes in airborne particles.

The researchers found positive air samples for at least one of three viral genes in six of the 11 isolation rooms and six of the nine common rooms. Seven of the nine homes reported no other cases.

To better understand how the virus spreads at home, participants were asked to record their time in isolation rooms and common rooms.

Complete News Source : Hindustan Times