ArticleThe Science of the total environment2021
Particulate matter and SARS-CoV-2: A possible model of COVID-19 transmission.
Article in The Science of the total environment, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 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.
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Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 129 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association of Particulate Matter (PM2.5) With COVID-19 Infection and Mortality in Low-and Middle-income Asian Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi · 2026Pooled it
- Association between short-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19: a case-crossover cohort study.BMJ open respiratory research · 2026Article
- Wastewater-Based Tracking SARS-CoV-2 RNA and Estimating Infected Population in Industrial Setting After Songkran Festival-Thailand Traditional New Year in 2023.Food and environmental virology · 2025Article
- Spatiotemporal Association of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Cases and Deaths With Exposure to Wildfire Particulate Matter in 2020.Open forum infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Interactive effects of air pollutants and viral exposure on daily influenza hospital visits in Mongolia.Environmental research · 2025Article
- Indirect Effects of PMAnnals of global health · 2024Article
- Linkage between Airborne Particulate Matter and Viral Pandemic COVID-19 in Bucharest.Microorganisms · 2023Article
- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and Particulate Matter Exposure: A Systematic Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Impact of climate change on SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in China.PloS one · 2023Article
- An updated estimation approach for SEIR models with stochastic perturbations: Application to COVID-19 data in Bogotá.PloS one · 2023Article
- Review
- The potential impact of PM2.5 on the covid-19 crisis in the Brazilian Amazon region.Revista de saude publica · 2023Article
- Association Between Weather Parameters and SARS-CoV-2 Confirmed Cases in Two South African Cities.GeoHealth · 2022Article
- Effects of Air Pollution on Chemosensory Dysfunction in COVID-19 Patients.Journal of Korean medical science · 2022Article
- 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
- Adverse Effects of Air Pollution on Pulmonary Diseases.Tuberculosis and respiratory diseases · 2022Review
- 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
- Importance of Punctual Monitoring to Evaluate the Health Effects of Airborne Particulate Matter.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Factors Modulating COVID-19: A Mechanistic Understanding Based on the Adverse Outcome Pathway Framework.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Review
- Transmission of COVID-19 pandemic (Turkey) associated with short-term exposure of air quality and climatological parameters.Environmental science and pollution research international · 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
8 authors at 7 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an acute respiratory disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has rapidly developed into a pandemic throughout the world. This disease is a highly infectious novel coronavirus and can affect people of all ages. Previous reports observed that particulate matter (PM) provided a platform for intermixing with viruses (i.e., influenza). However, the role of PM in SARS-CoV-2 transmission remains unclear. In this paper, we propose that PM plays a direct role as a "carrier" of SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 is reported to have a high affinity for the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. Indirectly, exposure to PM increases ACE2 expression in the lungs which facilitates SARS-CoV-2 viral adhesion. Thus, the high risk of SARS-CoV-2 in heavily polluted regions can be explained by upregulation of ACE2 caused by PM. PM could be both a direct and indirect transmission model for SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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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.