The Potential role of Particulate Matter in the Spreading of COVID-19 in Northern Italy: First Evidence-based Research Hypotheses

Leonardo Setti; Fabrizio Passarini; Gianluigi De Gennaro; Pierluigi Barbieri; Maria Grazia Perrone; Andrea Piazzalunga; Massimo Borelli; Jolanda Palmisani; Alessia Di Gilio; PRISCO PISCITELLI; Alessandro Miani

Other recent studies have also reported associations between PM and infectious diseases (e.g., influenza, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome): inhalation could bring PM deep into the lung and virus attached to particles may invade the lower part of respiratory tract directly, thus enhancing the induction of infections, as demonstrated by Sedlmaier et al (2009) [12] . Zhao et al. (2018) showed that the majority of the positive cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N2 in Iowa (USA) in 2015 might have received airborne virus, carried by fine PM, from infected farms both within the same State and from neighboring States [13] . The condensation and stabilization of the bioaerosol, generating aggregates with atmospheric particles from primary (i.e. dust) and secondary particulate, has been indicated as mechanisms able to transport airborne bacteria and viruses to distant regions, even by the inter-continent- [15] ; Brown et al (1935) found that the most severe measles epidemic in the United States occurred in Kansas in 1935 during the Dust Bowl period [16] .