A new chapter of healthy indoor air: antiviral air treatments

Aerosol transmission remains a major challenge for the control of respiratory viruses. To date, prevention strategies include masks, vaccinations, physical distancing, travel restrictions, and lockdowns. Such measures are effective but come with heavy societal burdens and rely on public compliance....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:EMBO molecular medicine 2023-12, Vol.15 (12), p.e18710-n/a
Main Authors: Glas, Irina, David, Shannon C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerosols
Air Pollution, Indoor - analysis
Air Pollution, Indoor - prevention & control
Animals
Antiviral Agents
Antiviral drugs
Biomedicine
Communicable Diseases
EMBO23
Filtration
Humans
Indoor air quality
Infections
Mechanical ventilation
Molecular Medicine
News & Views
Pathogens
Propylene glycol
Proteins
Relative humidity
Respiration
Rotavirus
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Vaccination
Vector-borne diseases
Ventilation
Viruses
Writing
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:Aerosol transmission remains a major challenge for the control of respiratory viruses. To date, prevention strategies include masks, vaccinations, physical distancing, travel restrictions, and lockdowns. Such measures are effective but come with heavy societal burdens and rely on public compliance. Additionally, most are simply not suitable as long‐term measures. Other strategies evolve around the concept of improved indoor air quality and involve ventilation, relative humidity (RH) control, and air filtration. Unfortunately, natural ventilation increases exposure to airborne pollutants and vector‐borne diseases, and incurs substantial energy losses in colder months. Mechanical ventilation concepts, including regular air changes and filtration, are effective but costly, and often require expensive engineering solutions and widespread renovations. Alternative options to reduce the spread of emerging and seasonal infections are sorely needed. In this issue of EMBO Molecular Medicine, Styles et al (2023) describe the use of propylene glycol (PG) to inactivate infectious bioaerosols and virus‐containing droplets deposited on surfaces. Graphical Abstract SC David and I Glas discuss potential use of propylene glycol to inactivate infectious bioaerosols and virus‐containing droplets in indoor spaces as reported by R Edgar and colleagues, in this issue of EMBO Mol Med.
ISSN:1757-4676
1757-4684
DOI:10.15252/emmm.202318710