Ultrafine particulate matter emitted from ships drives inflammation and susceptibility to viral infection

Investigation of the effects of the three metals found to be enriched in our cruise-ship ultrafine PM showed that these effects could be reproduced by vanadium exposure, which reduced interferon signalling and increased permissiveness to viral infection, facilitating replication of the respiratory viruses rhinovirus-16 and SARS-CoV-2. Our findings suggest that, despite a series of regulations introduced over the last 20 years, cruise ship-associated emissions of PM from heavy fuel oil combustion may exert disproportionate effects on health compared to PM from other sources.

In particular, the effects manifest themselves through induction of a response with characteristics of a poor viral infection prognosis. More broadly, current regulations, which neglect PM source- and composition-related variations, and ultrafine PM in general, may need strengthening to better mitigate health effects resulting from exposure to PM.