Documented in medical journals for almost two centuries but seemingly forgotten nowadays, breathing fresh outdoor air could be key to defending against airborne bacteria and viruses, including COVID-19, a leading infectious disease expert from the Australian National University (ANU) suggests.
Professor Peter Collignon, a co-author of a paper on the subject, said in a release on Wednesday that outdoor air has germicidal properties that can dilute and limit the spread of pathogens and even kill airborne viruses.
“This is why being outdoors helps protect people from contracting COVID-19,” he said.
The infectious diseases physician and microbiologist said that the pathogen-fighting agent in outdoor air—known as the Open Air Factor—is continually neglected in public health as a form of infection control, despite documented evidence of “open-air therapy” being utilised to treat tuberculosis in the first decade of the 20th century, as well as treat soldiers’ infected wounds during the First World War….