Airborne microplastics and SARS-CoV-2 in total suspended particles in the area surrounding the largest medical centre in Latin America

• Published in: Environmental pollution (1987) Vol. 292; no. Pt A; p. 118299
• Main Authors: Amato-Lourenço, Luís Fernando, de Souza Xavier Costa, Natália, Dantas, Kátia Cristina, dos Santos Galvão, Luciana, Moralles, Fernando Negri, Lombardi, Suzette Cleuza Ferreira Spina, Júnior, Alfredo Mendroni, Lindoso, José Angelo Lauletta, Ando, Rômulo Augusto, Lima, Felipe Gallego, Carvalho-Oliveira, Regiani, Mauad, Thais
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2022
• Subjects: Aerosols; air; Airborne microplastic; COVID-19 infection; fluorescence microscopes; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; humans; Latin America; linear models; medical facilities; microplastics; pollution; polyesters; Public health; quantitative polymerase chain reaction; reflectance; relative humidity; RNA; SARS-CoV-2 RNA; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; temperature; viral load; viruses; Latin America; Airborne microplastic; Aerosols; SARS-CoV-2 RNA; Public health

Microplastics (MPs) have been reported in the outdoor/indoor air of urban centres, raising health concerns due to the potential for human exposure. Since aerosols are considered one of the routes of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission and may bind to the surface of airborne MPs, we hypo...