Abstract
ABSTRACTUnderstanding airborne survival and decay of microorganisms is important for a range of public health and biodefense applications, including epidemiological and risk analysis modeling. Techniques for experimental aerosol generation, retention in the aerosol phase, and sampling require careful consideration and understanding so that they are representative of the conditions the bioaerosol would experience in the environment. This review explores the current understanding of atmospheric transport in relation to advances and limitations of aerosol generation, maintenance in the aerosol phase, and sampling techniques. Potential tools for the future are examined at the interface between atmospheric chemistry, aerosol physics, and molecular microbiology where the heterogeneity and variability of aerosols can be explored at the single-droplet and single-microorganism levels within a bioaerosol. The review highlights the importance of method comparison and validation in bioaerosol research and the benefits that the application of novel techniques could bring to increasing the understanding of aerobiological phenomena in diverse research fields, particularly during the progression of atmospheric transport, where complex interdependent physicochemical and biological processes occur within bioaerosol particles.
Highlights
Understanding airborne survival and decay of microorganisms is important for a range of public health and biodefense applications, including epidemiological and risk analysis modeling
Despite their low numbers relative to other natural aerosols, bioaerosols are speculated to impact climate through their behavior as efficient cloud condensation nuclei [2, 3]
This article reviews the current understanding, advances, and limitations in laboratory aerobiological studies, where the relationship between microorganism preparation, aerosol generation, evaporation, transport, and fate cumulatively may affect the final outcome of inhalational infection or survival in the environment
Summary
AEROSOL GENERATION, SAMPLING, AND POSTPROCESSING CONSIDERATIONS Aerosol generation and sampling prior to microbiological analysis are conducted for a range of bioaerosol-related research activities (e.g., determination of aerosol decay rates and inhalational infectious dose, efficacy of decontamination strategies, and evaluation of bioaerosol sampling technologies). These dynamic processes can cause damage due to shear forces acting on the microbial cells [12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27].
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