WHO defines pathogens that transmit through air: 'It's first step toward...'

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Geneva-based UN health agency released a technical document on the topic on Thursday. It said it was the first step towards working out how to better prevent this kind of transmission, both for existing diseases like measles and for future pandemic threats.

The document concludes that the descriptor "through the air" can be used for infectious diseases where the main type of transmission involves the pathogen travelling through the air or being suspended in the air, in line with other terms such as "waterborne" diseases, which are understood across disciplines and by the public. ALSO READ: WHO classifies JN.1 as 'variant of interest' amid sharp uptick in Covid-19 cases Almost 500 experts contributed to the definition, including physicists, public health professionals and engineers, many of whom disagreed bitterly over the topic in the past.

Agencies have historically required high levels of proof before calling diseases airborne, which required very stringent containment measures; the new definition says the risk of exposure and severity of disease should also be considered. ALSO READ: Dont 'relax': WHO warns on covid ahead of winter Past disagreements also centred around whether infectious particles were "droplets" or "aerosols" based on size, which the new definition moves away from.

During the early days of COVID in 2020, around 200 aerosol scientists publicly complained that the WHO had failed to warn people of the risk that the virus could spread through the air. This led to an overemphasis on measures like handwashing to stop the virus, rather than focusing on ventilation, they said.