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In 1959, researchers built a facility near Pretoria, South Africa, to study the airborne route of tuberculosis transmission, replicating an experiment first done in Baltimore. With a detailed schematic of ward rooms, test and control chambers, and room exhaust fans, the researchers proved nature’s deadliest bacterium traveled through the air, meaning infectious people in one part of a building could infect others through a ventilation system.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2), has claimed many victims worldwide due to its high virulence and contagiousness.

The air we breathe serves as a silent vector of antimicrobial resistance, calling for the need to integrate air monitoring into global public health strategies, according to a review by an international team of researchers.