Coronavirus: Infectious aerosols pose risk of infection
The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 keeps Germany and the world on tenterhooks. Institutes such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the German government's central institution in the field of disease surveillance, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), and countless research institutions around the globe are working at full speed to analyze the novel COVID-19 pathogen: cause and modes of transmission, spread patterns, and courses of disease - feverishly searching for effective drugs and a suitable vaccine.
Droplet infection: infection via the air
A study from Université Laval in Québec (Clinical Infectious Diseases (2015; doi: 10.1093/cid/civ321)), shows that the viruses are indeed detectable in the air. Her research group sampled air at different locations in eight healthcare facilities during norovirus outbreaks: Samples from the patient's room (one meter from the patient) were positive 54 percent of the time.
It is clear that the main route of transmission of these novel coronaviruses is droplet infection, which is also used to transmit other diseases such as the classic common cold, influenza, scarlet fever or meningococcal infections. Pathogens, bound in droplets, are ejected into the air from the nasopharynx via sneezing or coughing. Fortunately, infections transmitted in "large" and "heavy" droplets (more than 5 µm in diameter) only have a short range of 1 to 2 meters, as these droplets quickly fall to the ground. Other, smaller pathogen droplets remain in the air as infectious aerosols and can thus be transmitted in suspension over long distances, such as measles or chickenpox. According to the latest findings, this also applies to the very smallest SARS-CoV-2 aerosols.
➤➤ Addendum Mar 19 2020
At the US National Institute of Health in Hamilton/Montana, researchers have demonstrated the stability of the two SARS coronaviruses SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2. According to this, the aerosols remain airborne for an average of 2.74 hours and thus pose a risk of infection even without skin contact with an infected person.
Link to the study
Standard air purifiers: Proliferation of viruses and bacteria?
Unknown to many is the fact that conventional air purifiers are equipped only with filters, which over the period of use are compacted by house dust, hair, pollen, etc. and mutate into a breeding ground for bacteria and viruses. Furthermore, not known: Viruses are very small - the size is approximately between 22 and 330 nanometers. One nanometer corresponds to one millionth of a millimeter. This means that viruses are significantly smaller than bacteria, which are on average between 0.2 and 2 micrometers in size. This corresponds to 0.0002 to 0.002 millimeters. Viruses can therefore not be filtered, but only eliminated.
UV-A-LED-photocatalysis: Rendering viruses and bacteria harmles
Many people in closed rooms are therefore an optimal condition for airborne transmission routes. Train journeys, air travel, shared offices, not to mention hospitals, retirement homes or doctors' offices - the pathogen density can assume enormous proportions, and the pathogens remain in the air for a greater or lesser period of time. If air conditioning systems are also used, this pathogen load is then also circulated. One thing is clear: clean air is healthy air. This is where the AiroDoctorⓇ comes in with its innovative filter technology. While the first 3 stages filter out larger particles from the air, stage 4 then gets to grips with viruses and bacteria. Here, the unique UV-LED photocatalysis technology takes effect, in which the microorganisms are decomposed and rendered harmless in a reaction of irradiation with titanium dioxide nanoparticles. This happens completely without chemicals or harmful residues.
