Survival of aerosolized coronavirus in the ambient air

Abstract

A B S T R A C TAn inactivation of airborne pathogenic Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) virus was investigated under controlled laboratory conditions. Two sets of climatic conditions were used in the experiments; (1) representing common office environment (25°C and 79% RH) and (2) climatic conditions of the Middle Eastern region where the virus was originated from (38°C and 24% RH). At the lower temperature, the virus demonstrated high robustness and strong capability to survive with about 63.5% of microorganisms remaining infectious 60 min after aerosolisation. Fortunately, virus decay was much stronger for hot and dry air scenario with only 4.7% survival over 60 min procedure. Fig. 4. Microbial relative survival in airborne form (error bars represent standard deviation of at least 3 measurements). O.V. Pyankov et al.

COVID-19 vulnerability: the potential impact of genetic susceptibility and airborne transmission

“…Inactivation studies suggested that survival on surfaces, and in the air, may be further enhanced at relative humidities of less than 50% [40]. These results are consistent with other airborne viruses-including SARS-CoV-1 [21,41], influenza H1N1 [42,43], and MERS-CoV [44][45][46], which also show evidence of airborne transmission. Viability of SARS-CoV-2 in aerosol collected from realworld air samples, however, has not yet been fully explored.…”

Indirect Virus Transmission in Cluster of COVID-19 Cases, Wenzhou, China, 2020

“…Until now, no evidence has shown that SARS-CoV-2 can survive outside the body for long. However, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus demonstrates high robustness and a strong capability to survive outside the body and can remain infectious for up to 60 minutes after aerosolization (4). Hence, the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 in our study could have resulted from spread via fomites (e.g., elevator buttons or restroom taps) or virus aerosolization in a confined public space (e.g., restrooms or elevators).…”

Healthcare-associated infections: the hallmark of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus with review of the literature

“…As an RNA virus, MERS-CoV survives surprisingly well on surfaces and in the air, especially at low temperature and low humidity [62]. Sixty minutes after aerosolization, the virus remains infectious at 63.5% at 25 C and 79% humidity, compared with only 4.7% at conditions 38 C and 24% humidity [63]. MERS-CoV was detected by RT-PCR and viral culture up to 18e27 days after symptom onset from most of the touchable environments in patients' rooms [64].…”