Coronavirus has been detected on particles of air pollution by scientists investigating whether this could enable it to be carried over longer distances and increase the number of people infected.

The work is preliminary and it is not yet known if the virus remains viable on pollution particles and in sufficient quantity to cause disease.

The Italian scientists used standard techniques to collect outdoor air pollution samples at one urban and one industrial site in Bergamo Province and identified a gene highly specific to Covid-19 in multiple samples. The detection was confirmed by blind testing at an independent laboratory.

Leonardo Setti at the University of Bologna in Italy, who led the work, said it was important to investigate if the virus could be carried more widely by air pollution.

Two other research groups have suggested air pollution particles could help coronavirus travel further in the air.

A statistical analysis by Setti’s team suggests higher levels of particle pollution could explain higher rates of infection in parts of northern Italy before a lockdown was imposed, an idea supported by another preliminary analysis. The region is one of the most polluted in Europe.

Neither of the studies by Setti’s team have been peer-reviewed and therefore have not been endorsed by independent scientists. But experts agree their proposal is plausible and requires investigation.

Previous studies have shown that air pollution particles do harbor microbes and that pollution is likely to have carried the viruses causing bird flu, measles and foot-and-mouth disease over considerable distances.

The potential role of air pollution particles is linked to the broader question of how the coronavirus is transmitted. Large virus-laden droplets from infected people’s coughs and sneezes fall to the ground within a meter or two. But much smaller droplets, less than 5 microns in diameter, can remain in the air for minutes to hours and travel further.

Experts are not sure whether these tiny airborne droplets can cause coronavirus infections, though they know the 2003 SARS coronavirus was spread in the air and that the new virus can remain viable for hours in tiny droplets.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【 能存活的】 néng cúnhuó de viable capable of living, developing, or germinating under favorable conditions

【似乎合理的】sìhū hélǐ de plausible seeming reasonable or probable

科学家日前在空气污染物颗粒上发现了新冠病毒，他们正在研究，这是否能使病毒传播得更远，并增加感染人数。

这项研究还处于初步阶段，目前还不清楚新冠病毒是否能在污染颗粒上存活，以及病毒数量是否足以致病。

意大利科学家使用标准方法在意大利贝加莫省的一个城市和一个工业场所收集了室外空气污染样本，并在多个样本中都发现了一种与新冠病毒有高度特异性的基因。这个发现已经得到另一个独立实验室盲测结果的验证。

意大利博洛尼亚大学的莱昂纳多▪塞蒂是这项研究的负责人。他说，研究新冠病毒能否通过空气污染更广泛地传播很重要。

另外两个研究小组指出，空气污染颗粒可能会让新冠病毒在空气中传播得更远。

塞蒂研究团队的一项统计分析显示，意大利北部的部分地区是欧洲空气污染最严重的地区之一，在实施封锁措施之前，这些地区的大气颗粒物污染水平较高，而那里的新冠病毒感染率也较高。另一项初步分析研究也支持这一发现。

塞蒂研究团队的这两项分析结果还没有经过同行评审，因此尚未得到其他科学家的认可。但专家们认为这一结果是合理的，需要进一步调查研究。

此前的研究表明，大气颗粒物中确实含有微生物，空气污染很可能会把导致禽流感、麻疹和口蹄疫的病毒带到相当远的地方。

空气污染颗粒的潜在作用与新冠病毒如何传播这一更宽泛的问题有关。病毒感染者咳嗽和打喷嚏时，大量携带病毒的飞沫落在一两米内的地面上。但是更小的直径小于5微米的飞沫可以在空气中停留几分钟到几小时，并传播得更远。

专家们并不确定这些微小的空气飞沫是否会导致新冠病毒感染，但他们知道2003年的SARS冠状病毒可以通过空气传播，而且新冠病毒可以在微小飞沫中存活数小时。(chinadaily.com.cn)