# Viruses | C-POLAR Source: https://cpolar.tech/contaminants/viruses/ Explore viruses, how they spread, and the NanoFlashing™ approach to capturing and destroying them. This is the text of that page, in a form a machine can read. Nothing here is paraphrased, shortened or added to. Last reviewed: 2026-09-13 --- ## Viruses travel the air to infect, and many are negatively charged Many respiratory viruses spread through shared indoor air. Outbreak investigators have traced SARS-CoV-2 along a restaurant’s air-conditioning and across a quarantined cruise ship. Once inhaled, they cause colds, flu, and COVID, and studies link infection to lasting heart and brain effects. Many airborne viruses carry a negative charge. About 100 nm A Human Hair: 70,000 nm - Source: [SARS-CoV-2 along a restaurant’s air-conditioning](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32240078/) - Source: [across a quarantined cruise ship](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33536312/) - Source: [lasting heart and brain effects](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35132265/) - Source: [carry a negative charge](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20102425/) --- ### What viruses do to you Viruses ride the air we share into the lungs, and the harm does not always stop there. Most infections clear, but some leave lasting marks on the heart, brain, blood, and kidneys. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates about a billion flu infections a year, and that is before colds, RSV, and COVID are added in. The University of Michigan counted about 500 million colds and other viral infections a year in the United States alone. - Source: [about a billion flu infections a year](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/influenza-(seasonal)) - Source: [about 500 million colds and other viral infections a year](https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.163.4.487) ### What viruses do to your lungs Lungs A Vanderbilt University study of 251,000 children showed that avoiding RSV in the first year cut the risk of asthma by age 5 by about a quarter. An Italian study of 1,591 of the sickest COVID patients found 88% needed a ventilator, as severe viral pneumonia compromised their ability to breathe. The CDC found that among children who died of the 2009 flu, about 3 in 10 also had a bacterial pneumonia, showing how viral and bacterial infections can occur together. - Source: [cut the risk of asthma by age 5 by about a quarter](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37086744/) - Source: [88% needed a ventilator](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2764365) - Source: [about 3 in 10 also had a bacterial pneumonia](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5838a4.htm) ### What viruses do to your heart Heart A University of Toronto study found the risk of a heart attack jumps about sixfold in the week after flu. A Washington University study of 153,760 people found that a year after COVID, heart-failure risk rose about 72% and irregular-heartbeat risk about 71%, long after the infection cleared. The London School of Hygiene found a heart attack runs 3 to 8 times more likely in the two weeks after flu in older adults. - Source: [jumps about sixfold in the week after flu](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29365305/) - Source: [heart-failure risk rose about 72% and irregular-heartbeat risk about 71%](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01689-3) - Source: [3 to 8 times more likely in the two weeks after flu](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15602560/) ### What viruses do to your blood & cells Blood & Cells A Swedish study of more than a million people showed the risk of a dangerous lung clot rose 33-fold in the month after COVID, as the infection increased the risk of blood clotting. The same Swedish study found a deep-vein clot nearly 5x more likely in that first month. A Washington University study of 153,760 people found the risk of a serious blood clot stayed more than doubled across the year after COVID. - Source: [rose 33-fold in the month after COVID](https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj-2021-069590) - Source: [nearly 5x more likely](https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj-2021-069590) - Source: [serious blood clot stayed more than doubled](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01689-3) ### What viruses do to your brain & mind Brain & Mind An Oxford University study of 1.28 million patients found raised rates of brain fog, dementia, and psychosis in the year after COVID. A US Veterans study of over 150,000 people found COVID raised the risk of depression by about 39% and anxiety by about 35%. The CDC reports that measles can inflame the brain in about 1 in 1,000 children it infects, and a rarer, delayed form is almost always fatal. - Source: [brain fog, dementia, and psychosis](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35987197/) - Source: [depression by about 39% and anxiety by about 35%](https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj-2021-068993) - Source: [about 1 in 1,000 children](https://www.cdc.gov/measles/signs-symptoms/index.html) ### What viruses do to your kidneys Kidneys A New York study of 5,449 hospitalized COVID patients found more than a third suffered acute kidney injury. A study across 67 US hospitals found about 1 in 5 of the sickest COVID patients needed dialysis. A Washington University study found COVID survivors carried about 3x the risk of kidney failure in the year that followed. - Source: [more than a third suffered acute kidney injury](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7229463/) - Source: [about 1 in 5 of the sickest COVID patients needed dialysis](https://journals.lww.com/jasn/fulltext/2021/01000/aki_treated_with_kidney_replacement_therapy_in.18.aspx) - Source: [about 3x the risk of kidney failure](https://journals.lww.com/jasn/fulltext/2021/11000/kidney_outcomes_in_long_covid.15.aspx) ### What viruses do to your reproduction Reproduction A McGill University review of 42 studies found mothers who caught COVID in pregnancy faced about 82% higher odds of premature birth, and higher odds of stillbirth. The CDC reports infection with rubella virus causes the most severe damage early in pregnancy. The most common birth defects can include deafness, cataracts, and heart defects. The CDC finds chickenpox in early pregnancy can scar the developing baby, causing limb, eye, and skin defects in a small share of cases. - Source: [about 82% higher odds of premature birth](https://www.cmaj.ca/content/193/16/E540) - Source: [birth defects](https://www.cdc.gov/rubella/pregnancy/index.html) - Source: [scar the developing baby](https://www.cdc.gov/chickenpox/hcp/clinical-guidance/index.html) ### What viruses do to your immune system Immune System A University of New South Wales review of 122 studies found children who caught an enterovirus had about 10x the risk of type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the body's own cells. A Harvard study found measles erases 11 to 73% of a child's existing antibodies, wiping out immunity the body had already built. The CDC found a dangerous whole-body inflammation, MIS-C, struck about 316 of every million children infected with COVID. - Source: [about 10x the risk of type 1 diabetes](https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d35) - Source: [11 to 73% of a child's existing antibodies](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aay6485) - Source: [about 316 of every million children infected with COVID](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2780861) --- ## The filter keeps the virus it catches alive 21 days a live virus stayed infectious on filter media. The media holds it. It does not kill it. A conventional filter catches the virus, but it does not kill it. Trapped in the fibers, the virus stays infectious for days. Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory recovered live, infectious virus from filter media 21 days after it landed, long after the person who breathed it out had gone. French researchers pushed an airborne virus through a real air-handling filter. It trapped most of it, but about 500 infectious particles still passed through. In another test, virus on an air-handling filter was still infectious after ten hours of running air, the airstream does not clear it out. The EPA tells the workers who change these filters to put on gloves, goggles, and a respirator first. The filter meant to clean the air becomes a store of live virus, held in the fibers the building's air keeps passing through. - Source: [recovered live, infectious virus from filter media](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-80098-3) - Source: [about 500 infectious particles still passed through](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7087798/) - Source: [still infectious after ten hours of running air](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28660425/) - Source: [put on gloves, goggles, and a respirator](https://www.epa.gov/coronavirus/air-cleaners-hvac-filters-and-coronavirus-covid-19) --- ## about 1 million infectious units per trial Airborne virus 1.3 m/s airflow NanoFlashing™ Control NanoFlashing™ captures the virus, and destroys it. Independent testing shows NanoFlashing™ destroys up to 99.99% of a broad spectrum of viruses through a physical mechanism. Viruses tested SARS-CoV-2 Human coronavirus 229E Coxsackievirus B6 Bovine coronavirus Pseudo-type SARS-CoV-2 Influenza A H3N2 Phi6 bacteriophage Tested by Czech Academy of Sciences University of Minnesota Tampere University, Finland Textile Testing Institute - Brno, Czech Republic Hong Kong Metropolitan University Guangdong Detection Center of Microbiology