New preprint: Indoor air sampling for viral nucleic acids
Cross-post from the NAO blog
Link: https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4823882
Airborne pathogens cause a significant amount of present harm and are likely to be implicated in future pandemics. Air sampling, which directly targets their primary mode of transmission, could be a promising approach for early detection and monitoring.
As part of our work on sampling strategies for early detection of stealth pathogens, we performed a comprehensive review of air sampling, which has now been published as a preprint on SSRN. In our review we examine the sources and composition of viral bioaerosols, evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of sampling technologies, and lay out strategies for effective implementation of air sampling programs. We find that:
- Both PCR and metagenomic sequencing have detected a wide range of human viruses in indoor air, including respiratory RNA viruses and skin-borne DNA viruses.
- Sampling viruses in air remains challenging, largely due to the difficulties in efficiently collecting ultrafine viral aerosols. However, recent advancements in sampling technologies, such as condensation-based methods and wetted-wall cyclone sampling, have shown promising results in effectively capturing these viral particles.
- HVAC systems and high-traffic locations like airports and hospitals are particularly promising sampling sites for aggregating airborne material, including viral pathogens, from many individuals.
- Passive sampling approaches, such as sampling vacuum dust collected in buildings, also show potential but remain underexplored.
While we believe more research on air sampling would be valuable, we’re not currently planning on prioritizing it at the NAO, as we want to focus our limited resources on wastewater and swab sampling. We’d be excited for others to take this up and advance the state of the art in this area; if you’re interested in taking this on, please reach out!