This photo taken Jan. 19, 2020, shows central Seoul blanketed in a gray haze caused by fine dust. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Air pollutants like sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide raise the risk of COVID-19 infection, a study showed Wednesday.
A joint research team from CHA University and Kyungnam University conducted a study of 3,234 people who were infected with COVID-19 between January and April 2020 to look at how weather conditions and air pollution influenced the spread of the pandemic.
The results showed that air pollutants, especially sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide, raised the risk of COVID-19 infection.
Depending on the level of concentration, sulfur dioxide raised the risk of infection by up to 5.2 times and carbon monoxide by up to 1.2 times.
The research team observed, however, that weather conditions or other air pollutants had no impact on the risk of COVID-19 infection.
Looking at the study and previous literature, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide particles might have either sped up the transmission of the virus particles in the air or encouraged their inhalation by humans, the research team said.
These air pollutants, once inhaled, can cause inflammation and hurt the immune system, exposing a person to the risk of a viral infection.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
