The Social Construction of Airborne Infections

Airborne pathogens are capable of hovering within enclosed spaces for minutes or hours. They travel as tiny particles emitted when a person who has an active infection coughs, sneezes, speaks, sings, or laughs. When a susceptible host is exposed to this air space, they risk inhaling the particles into their lungs and catching the infection. Globally, rapid population growth in urban areas and a widespread lack of adequate housing are creating more opportunities for airborne pathogens to hover and spread through crowded interiors. The populations with fewer services and heavier burdens of disease are more susceptible to airborne infections. This chapter explores the environmental determinants of health that enable these pathogens, as well as approaches to facilitate their prevention and control. It also examines the most enduring airborne pathogen, tuberculosis, and how policies that favored higher living standards in urban areas, and treatments that revolved around clean air, helped reduce its prevalence in the past. In the 21st century, policy interventions that promote health through better ventilation standards in buildings, easier access to adequate housing, and observance of international human rights standards are recommended to help curb ongoing global pandemics like tuberculosis, and newer ones like COVID-19. Along with source control and vaccinations, addressing the underlying social forces that influence the air we breathe indoors has the potential to prevent mortality and morbidity on a large scale.