The impact of environmental mycobiomes on geographic variation in COVID-19 mortality

Mortality rates during the COVID-19 pandemic have varied by orders of magnitude across communities in the United States. Individual, socioeconomic, and environmental factors have been linked to health outcomes of COVID-19. It is now widely appreciated that the environmental microbiome, composed of microbial communities associated with soil, water, atmosphere, and the built environment, impacts immune system development and susceptibility to immune-mediated disease. The human microbiome has been linked to individual COVID-19 disease outcomes, but there are limited data on the influence of the environmental microbiome on geographic variation in COVID-19 across populations. To fill this knowledge gap, we used taxonomic profiles of fungal communities associated with 1,135 homes in 494 counties from across the United States in a machine learning analysis to predict COVID-19 Infection Fatality Ratios (the number of deaths caused by COVID-19 per 1000 SARS-CoV-2 infections; 'IFR'). Here we show that exposure to increased fungal diversity, and in particular indoor exposure to outdoor fungi, is associated with reduced SARS-CoV-2 IFR. Further, we identify seven fungal genera that are the predominant drivers of this protective signal and may play a role in suppressing COVID-19 mortality. This relationship is strongest in counties where human populations have remained stable over at least the previous decade, consistent with the importance of early-life microbial exposures. We also assessed the explanatory power of 754 other environmental and socioeconomic factors, and found that indoor-outdoor fungal beta-diversity is amongst the strongest predictors of county-level IFR, on par with the most important known COVID-19 risk factors, including age. We anticipate that our study will be a starting point for further integration of environmental mycobiome data with population health information, providing an important missing link in our capacity to identify vulnerable populations. Ultimately, our identification of specific genera predicted to be protective against COVID-19 mortality may point toward novel, proactive therapeutic approaches to infectious disease.

Indoor air quality in urban residential: Current status, regulation and future research for Indonesia

Modern society spends more time indoors, which has led to the hypothesis that indoor exposure can better represent the effects of air pollution at the individual level. Studies on the landscape of urban residential indoor air quality have never been carried out nationally in Indonesia. After 70 years of commitment to standardize the health aspects of the home in Indonesia, this study intends to make a chronological reflection on the Indonesian government's policy in residential indoor air quality. This study raised and analyzed several questions in the national and local context from the previous research. The government's various policies and regulations are chronologically listed to see the development and look for regulatory or implementation gaps. The indicators of insufficient ventilation and indoor air quality in much Indonesian urban housing have been shown in previous studies, encouraging this study to be necessary. This study used a chronological review using national and international journals. Previous studies have shown possibilities to estimate the landscape of indoor pollution exposure effectively using a socio-economic approach as a part. The latest national housing survey results can be used as references to discover the housing landscape status in Indonesia for further research suggestions.

Antilope, A Portable Low-Cost Sensor System for the Assessment of Indoor and Outdoor Air Pollution Exposure

The increasing availability of low-cost sensors and open source projects make it easier than ever for a maker to build his own air quality node. Nonetheless, depending on one’s goal and its related data quality objective, to customize an existing project or to build a specific printed circuit board may still be very useful. In the framework of the Outdoor and Indoor Exposure project, a portable mini-station has been developed, tested and then used in two experiments: exposure assessment and complementary network measurement. The present paper focuses on the description of the equipment that was designed and prototyped, as well as on the tests that were made in the lab and in the field to evaluate its overall performance and that of its different sensors. Finally, we present what we consider to be its main drawbacks and our perspectives for further development and tests.

On-site Investigation of Airborne Bacteria and Fungi According to Type of Poultry Houses in South Korea

A field survey was conducted to quantify indoor exposure levels and emission rates of airborne microorganisms generated from domestic poultry buildings. There were three types of poultry buildings (caged layer house, broiler house, and layer house with manure belt), classified by the mode of manure treatment and ventilation, investigated in this study. Nine sites for each poultry building were selected and visited for measuring the exposure level and emission rate of airborne microorganisms. The total number of airborne bacteria and fungi among the airborne microorganisms were analysed based on the incubation method. Their emission rates were estimated by dividing the emission amount, which was calculated through multiplying indoor concentration (cfu/m3) by ventilation rate (m3/h), into the indoor area(m2) and the number of poultries reared in the poultry building. The mean exposure levels of the total airborne bacteria and fungi in the poultry building were 7.92 (SD:2.66) log (cfu m-3) and 4.92 (SD:1.79) log (cfu m-3), respectively. Emission rates of airborne microorganisms in poultry buildings were estimated to be 0.263 (±0.088) log (cfu hen-1h-1) and 0.839 (±0.371) log (cfu m-2h-1) for total airborne bacteria, and 0.066 (±0.031) log (cfu hen-1h-1) and 0.617 (±0.235) log (cfu m-2h-1) for total airborne fungi. The distribution patterns of the total airborne bacteria and fungi were similar regardless of poultry building type. Among poultry buildings, the broiler house showed the highest exposure level and emission rate of total airborne bacteria and fungi, followed by the layer house with manure belt and the caged layer house (p<0.05). The finding that the broiler house showed the highest exposure level and emission rate of airborne microorganisms could be attributed to sawdust, which can be dispersed into the air by the movement of the poultry when it is utilized as bedding material. Thus, a work environmental management solution for optimally reducing airborne microorganism exposure is necessary for the broiler house.