Billions of viruses are falling on our heads every day without anyone knowing

It turns out this is how the virus can move from one continent to another without the host being a living creature.

The Earth until now is still the only place in the universe capable of nurturing life. Also in this unique place, life really is everywhere, including microorganisms - including bacteria and viruses.

But according to a recent study, the size of these microorganisms is much larger than we thought. They even sealed the sky, then fell on our heads in tremendous numbers.

The virus travels throughout the atmosphere, then follows the rain, following dust particles that fall down.

Specifically, the study was carried out by a team of experts from the US, Canada and Spain, published in the International Society for Microbial Ecology magazine. Research shows that there are about 800 million viruses per square meter of land today.

"This is equivalent to 25 viruses for every person in Canada," - Dr Curtis Suttle from University of British Columbia.

Microbiologists had to try to find out why there were completely identical viruses appearing halfway around the world. Previously, science had already identified bacteria and viruses that often bind to molecules floating in the atmosphere, above the "planetary boundary layer" (PBL).

However, the number of microorganisms distributed in those molecules - especially the number of rain falling, has never been investigated. And now, we have the answer.

Researchers had to place samples collected at high mountains (such as Mount Nevada at an altitude of 3,000m), to prevent the sample from becoming contaminated. In addition, they also set up air movement models, to determine the origin of the bacteria.

Viruses are much smaller than bacteria, so it is clear that their distribution will be larger.

Experimental results show that if eligible, about 7 billion molecules of the virus will fall to the ground every day. Specifically, if the air contains microscopic molecules (<0.7micron), the amount of virus will fall more. If it is heavy rainy days, containing large sized molecules such as dust, sand (> 0.7micron), the amount of dispersed bacteria will increase significantly. But overall, the viral distribution rate is 9 to 461 times higher than bacteria.

In fact, the virus is much smaller than bacteria, so it is clear that their distribution will be larger. However, the size of the virus is too large, making scientists feel unbelievable.

There are viruses with similar genomes, but appear in places far away from each other on Earth.

"About 20 years ago, we found viruses with nearly identical genes, but appeared in areas far away from each other in the world" - Suttle shared.

"It turns out, they can travel throughout the atmosphere, and this may explain why viruses can sweep from continent to continent."

* PBL is the boundary between an upper-altitude atmospheric atmosphere (at an altitude of 1000-16,000m) with an atmosphere affected by a lower weather system.