ReviewInternational journal of environmental research and public health2020
Can Air-Conditioning Systems Contribute to the Spread of SARS/MERS/COVID-19 Infection? Insights from a Rapid Review of the Literature.
Review in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 112 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of indoor bioaerosols in hospitals: The influence of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Prevalence and Spatial Distribution of Chronic Respiratory Diseases in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Hydrological and Household Influences.GeoHealth · 2026Article
- Improving ventilation hygiene in wards for immunocompromised patients: a workflow comparison of traditional and innovative duct cleaning methods.Infection prevention in practice · 2025Article
- Article
- Development of Polymerase Chain Reaction-High-Resolution Melt Assay for Waterborne PathogensMicroorganisms · 2024Article
- Effect of air sterilizers in an outpatient clinic at a tertiary university hospital.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- SARS-CoV-2 infection in meat and poultry workers after the "first wave" (Summer 2020): a cross-sectional study on knowledge, attitudes, practices (KAP) of Italian occupational physicians.Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis · 2023Article
- Legionnaires' Disease in Occupational Settings: A Cross-Sectional Study from Northeastern Italy (2019).Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2023Article
- Systematic Review of the Key Factors Influencing the Indoor Airborne Spread of SARS-CoV-2.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Dining comfort in elderly care facility dining rooms and influencing factors before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- The Impact of Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning Design Features on the Transmission of Viruses, Including SARS-CoV-2: Overview of Reviews.Interactive journal of medical research · 2022Review
- Cumulative effects of air pollution and climate drivers on COVID-19 multiwaves in Bucharest, Romania.Process safety and environmental protection : transactions of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, Part B · 2022Article
- Impacts of exposure to air pollution, radon and climate drivers on the COVID-19 pandemic in Bucharest, Romania: A time series study.Environmental research · 2022Observational
- Prediction of respiratory droplets evolution for safer academic facilities planning amid COVID-19 and future pandemics: A numerical approach.Journal of building engineering · 2022Article
- Ventilation strategies to reduce airborne transmission of viruses in classrooms: A systematic review of scientific literature.Building and environment · 2022Review
- Risk of Surgeon Contracting COVID-19 while Operating on COVID-19-Positive Patient, Impact of Safety Measures: Lessons Learnt.Surgery journal (New York, N.Y.) · 2022Article
- Ventilation strategies and design impacts on indoor airborne transmission: A review.Building and environment · 2022Review
- Passively sensing SARS-CoV-2 RNA in public transit buses.The Science of the total environment · 2022Article
- A spatiotemporally resolved infection risk model for airborne transmission of COVID-19 variants in indoor spaces.The Science of the total environment · 2022Article
- Occupations and Sickness-Related Absences during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of health and social behavior · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is still debated. The aim of this rapid review is to evaluate the COVID-19 risk associated with the presence of air-conditioning systems. Original studies (both observational and experimental researches) written in English and with no limit on time, on the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 coronaviruses that were associated with outbreaks, were included. Searches were made on PubMed/MEDLINE, PubMed Central (PMC), Google Scholar databases, and medRxiv. A snowball strategy was adopted to extend the search. Fourteen studies reporting outbreaks of coronavirus infection associated with the air-conditioning systems were included. All studies were carried out in the Far East. In six out the seven studies on SARS, the role of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) in the outbreak was indirectly proven by the spatial and temporal pattern of cases, or by airflow-dynamics models. In one report on MERS, the contamination of HVAC by viral particles was demonstrated. In four out of the six studies on SARS-CoV-2, the diffusion of viral particles through HVAC was suspected or supported by computer simulation. In conclusion, there is sufficient evidence of the airborne transmission of coronaviruses in previous Asian outbreaks, and this has been taken into account in the guidelines released by organizations and international agencies for controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in indoor environments. However, the technological differences in HVAC systems prevent the generalization of the results on a worldwide basis. The few COVID-19 investigations available do not provide sufficient evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can be transmitted by HVAC systems.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.