phinxpacific.com – The corona virus pandemic is not over yet. In fact, new cases confirmed positive in a number of countries are still increasing. Most recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledged that the virus can spread through the air. This is also supported by research by hundreds of experts from dozens of countries.
Transmission process
According to the official WHO website, several possible transmission processes for SARS-CoV-2 are explained, including through contact, droplets, air, fomites, fecal-oral, blood, mother-to-child, and transmission from animals to humans. So, what are the modes of transmission of this corona virus?
1. Contact and droplet transmission
Transmission of the coronavirus can occur through direct, indirect, or close contact with an infected person through infected secretions such as their saliva and respiratory secretions or respiratory droplets. These saliva or respiratory droplets are released when an infected person coughs, sneezes, talks, or sings. Respiratory droplet transmission can occur when someone is in close contact (approximately 1 meter) with an infected person.
2. Airborne transmission
Airborne transmission is defined as spread via droplet nuclei (aerosols) that remain infectious when suspended in the air for long distances and time. Airborne transmission of the virus may occur during medical procedures that generate aerosols. Thus, susceptible people can inhale aerosols, and can become infected if the aerosols contain enough virus to cause infection in the recipient’s body.
3. Fomite transmission
Respiratory secretions or droplets expelled by infected individuals can contaminate surfaces and objects, creating fomites (contaminated surfaces). Transmission can also occur indirectly by touching surfaces in the immediate environment or objects contaminated by the virus from an infected person, such as a stethoscope or thermometer, followed by touching the mouth, nose or eyes.
4. Other transmission modes
Coronavirus RNA has also been detected in other biological samples, including urine and feces from some patients. A study found the presence of the corona virus in the urine of one patient. However, to date, there have been no published reports of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 via feces or urine.
5. Animals
Evidence to date suggests that the coronavirus is most closely related to the known betacoronaviruses in bats. Current evidence suggests that humans infected with the coronavirus can infect other mammals, including dogs, cats and captive-bred mink. However, it remains unclear whether these infected mammals pose a significant risk of transmission to humans.
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