Scientists have concluded for months that the new Corona virus can remain stuck in the spray from patients when they speak and breathe, without there being any evidence yet that these small particles are contagious.
However, a recent study, conducted by scientists at the University of Nebraska and published in advance of this week, demonstrated for the first time that the SARS-Cove-2 virus particles were taken from the air of Covid-19 patients' rooms that are able to reproduce, thus causing infection.
This reinforces the hypothesis that the virus is transmitted not only through coughing or sneezing, but also by speaking in a normal way and breathing, and that infectious particles of the virus can remain stuck for a long time in the absence of ventilation, and travel beyond the two meters recommended within the social spacing procedures.
And the results are still considered preliminary, and have not been studied yet by the Reading Committee in a scientific journal, which would confirm the method used by scientists to reach this result. The results were published, the day before yesterday, on the website «Medrexif», where the scientific community can comment freely.
But the team itself had previously published in March a study that showed that the virus remains in the air of hospital patients, and the study will be published in a scientific journal soon, according to its chief contributor.
Able to reproduce
"This is not an easy thing," Joshua Santarbia, a professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, told AFP on the way to collect virus particles in the air. He added, "The assemblies of the molecules are weak, and we have generally few opportunities to take a sample that can be used."
The researchers took samples from the air in the rooms of five patients lying in bed 30 cm above the edge of the bed from the side of the feet. The patients used to talk normally, and some sneezed. Scientists have been able to collect molecules less than five microns in diameter and carry the virus, or even less than a micron. Then they isolated the virus and placed it in a special environment for reproduction, and concluded that three of the 18 samples tested were able to reproduce.
Professor Santarbia believed that this proves that the small particles in the air that are able to travel greater distances than the larger molecules are capable of causing injury to people. He said it "multiplies in a cell culture environment and is therefore contagious."
Changing the outlook
Health authorities around the world had previously considered that the proliferation of new Corona virus particles in the air was unlikely, considering that direct contact with droplets of coughing or sneezing remains the main cause of infection.
Later, scientists began to change their theory, and recognized the possibility that small particles of the virus could travel through the air, which led to increased calls for masking.
The World Health Organization was among the last bodies, which revised its position under pressure from the scientific community, and approved on the seventh of this July, the existence of evidence of the transmission of the virus through the air.
"The debate has become more political than scientific," Joshua Santarbia said. "I suspect that most epidemiologists agree that air is a component of the transmission of the virus, although we are still discussing its importance."
For its part, Professor Lansi Mar, a specialist in the transmission of viruses through the air, said on Twitter that the study shows "solid evidence", adding: "There is a contagious virus in the air, so it remains to be seen what amount of inhalation a person can infect."
A group of 239 international scientists called - on the sixth of this July - health authorities and the World Health Organization to acknowledge that the infection of the new "Corona" virus is transmissible by air more than two meters away, and they recommended strong ventilation to the internal public places.
Scientists sent their message especially to the World Health Organization, which was criticized primarily for being late in recommending the use of masks. Scientists have said they refuse to see the accumulation of evidence for a possible spread of infection in the air.
Better ventilation
In conjunction with the lifting of the isolation procedures, experts called for better ventilation of workplaces, as well as schools, hospitals and nursing homes, and the adoption of anti-injury tools, such as advanced air filters and special UV rays that eliminate germs in the ventilation ducts.
Joshua Santarbia:
• "I suspect that most epidemiologists agree that air is a component of the transmission of the virus."
Forget Mar:
• "There is an infectious virus in the air ... it remains to be seen what amount of inhalation a person can infect."