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From exposure to infection: mechanisms linking emerging pollutants to increased viral susceptibility
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This review pulls together existing research to explain how everyday pollutants—like microplastics, pesticides, and air particles—may make our bodies more vulnerable to viral infections. It shows these pollutants can weaken the protective lining in our airways and gut, throw off our immune system, and disrupt the beneficial bacteria that help fight off viruses; microplastics may even act as tiny "shuttles" that help viruses get into cells. This matters because it suggests that reducing everyday exposure to pollution isn't just good for the environment—it could also help protect us from getting sick more often or more severely from common viral infections.
Emerging pollutants (EPs) - including microplastics (MPs), nanoplastics (NPs), pesticides, antibiotics (ABX), particulate matter (PM), and heavy metals (HMs) - are pervasive environmental contaminants increasingly recognized as critical non-infectious co-factors in viral pathogenesis. While epidemiological evidence links chronic environmental exposure to EPs with heightened respiratory viral morbidity, the biological plausibility and cellular trajectories driving this susceptibility remain incompletely defined. This review synthesizes current epidemiological, toxicological, and immunological insights to bridge the gap between environmental exposure and clinical infection, illustrating how EPs facilitate the transition from exposure to infection by systematically compromising host defenses. We elucidate the disruption of three hierarchical layers: (1) physical barrier breach, where EPs degrade epithelial integrity and mucosal defenses to facilitate viral entry; (2) immune dysregulation, characterized by oxidative stress-driven inflammation and the suppression of innate and adaptive surveillance; and (3) microbiota-host axis perturbation, where EPs-induced dysbiosis dismantles metabolic networks essential for antiviral immunity. Furthermore, we highlight direct non-immune mechanisms, including the role of MPs as viral vectors and the pollutant-induced upregulation of viral receptors. Integrating these mechanisms is critical for refining environmental risk assessment models and informing targeted public health strategies within a "One Health" framework to mitigate the viral disease burden associated with environmental pollution.
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Inflammation, immune dysfunction and viral disease: could micro- and nanoplastics be the missing link?
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This review examines how tiny plastic particles in the environment might weaken immune defenses and worsen viral infections. The authors synthesize existing research showing that these particles can stabilize viruses, trigger harmful inflammation in cells, and suppress the body's antiviral responses, potentially increasing susceptibility to severe infectious diseases.
Microplastics as Vectors for Viral Transmission: Mechanisms, Influencing Factors, and Ecological-Health Risks
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Tiny plastic particles floating in the environment can stick to viruses and help them survive longer and spread more easily, which could increase the risk of getting sick. This review article summarizes what scientists have learned about how plastics and viruses interact, and why it matters, because many of us are now exposed to both microplastics and viruses at the same time, which could be worse for our immune systems than facing either threat alone. Understanding this problem better will help researchers figure out how to protect public health as plastic pollution continues to grow worldwide.
Environmental virotoxicology: how pollutant exposure modulates viral infections – a systematic review of wildlife-associated evidence
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Pollution in the environment—from plastics to chemicals—can weaken animals' immune systems and make viral infections worse, which means diseases could spread more easily through wildlife populations and potentially jump to humans. This review of over 160 studies shows that pollutants can wake up dormant viruses in animals' bodies and help viruses reproduce faster, creating a dangerous combination of weak defenses and stronger infections. Understanding how pollution affects disease in animals matters for people too, since many animal viruses can infect humans, making it important to monitor both pollution and disease outbreaks together.
Microplastics as emerging viral vectors: Nexus, mechanisms, ecological implications and health risks
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This review pulls together existing research showing that tiny plastic particles (microplastics) aren't just harmless debris—they can act like rafts that viruses cling to, helping them survive longer and travel farther in water, soil, and air than they would on their own. This matters because it means microplastics could potentially help spread infections more easily, though scientists still need more real-world studies to figure out exactly how big a risk this poses to human health.
Environmental virotoxicology: how pollutant exposure modulates viral infections – a systematic review of wildlife-associated evidence
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Pollution in our environment—from plastics to chemicals to heavy metals—can weaken animals' immune systems and make them more vulnerable to viral infections, which could then spread to humans. This review of over 160 studies shows that contaminants are actively making disease outbreaks worse in wildlife, and in some cases may even be creating viruses that resist our medicines. Understanding these pollution-disease connections matters because animals are often where new diseases start before jumping to people, so controlling pollution could help prevent the next pandemic.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.