Environment and COVID: the consequence of exposure to air pollutants on the pathology of SARS-COV-2

The novel β-coronavirus SARS-COV-2 since the end of 2019 has caused considerable morbidity and mortality worldwide. The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) has a wide spectrum of severity; the clinical presentation varies from asymptomatic or paucisymptomatic forms to a severe respiratory infection, frequently with fatal outcome. The infammatory response, in particular the overproduction of proinfammatory cytokines and overactivation of immune cells (the so-called cytokine storm), determines the disease severity. At present, factors contributing to the development of this excessive infammatory response are still under investigation, but it is known that some environmental pollutants are cause of chronic systemic and airway infammation, fnally leading to innate immune system hyperactivation, elevated production of proinfammatory cytokines, and thrombosis. In this review we discuss the infuence of environmental and occupational pollutants on severity of SARS-COV-2 disease, taking account of the immune response induced by various pollutants.