Abstract
BackgroundAirborne viruses remain one of the major public health issues worldwide. Detection and quantification of airborne viruses is essential in order to provide information regarding public health risk assessment.FindingsIn this study, an optimized new, simple, low cost method for sampling of airborne viruses using Low Melting Agarose (LMA) plates and a conventional microbial air sampling device has been developed. The use of LMA plates permits the direct nucleic acids extraction of the captured viruses without the need of any preliminary elution step. Molecular detection and quantification of airborne viruses is performed using real-time quantitative (RT-)PCR (Q(RT-)PCR) technique. The method has been tested using Adenoviruses (AdVs) and Noroviruses (NoVs) GII, as representative DNA and RNA viruses, respectively. Moreover, the method has been tested successfully in outdoor experiments, by detecting and quantifying human adenoviruses (HAdVs) in the airborne environment of a wastewater treatment plant.ConclusionsThe great advantage of LMA is that nucleic acids extraction is performed directly on the LMA plates, while the eluted nucleic acids are totally free of inhibitory substances. Coupled with QPCR the whole procedure can be completed in less than three (3) hours.
Highlights
Airborne viruses remain one of the major public health issues worldwide
The great advantage of Low Melting Agarose (LMA) is that nucleic acids extraction is performed directly on the LMA plates, while the eluted nucleic acids are totally free of inhibitory substances
Efficiency of viral recovery from LMA plates human adenoviruses (HAdVs) recovery from LMA plates was estimated with quantitative real-time PCR (QPCR)
Summary
Airborne viruses remain one of the major public health issues worldwide. Detection and quantification of airborne viruses is essential in order to provide information regarding public health risk assessment. Viruses are pathogenic to humans and animals. There is a growing concern regarding exposure to bioaerosols since they represent major health and economic risks to human and animal populations. Exposure to airborne viruses in different environments is responsible for various health problems and disorders worldwide [1]. There is an increased concern of using highly pathogenic airborne microorganisms, as bioterrorism agents. Aerosolization of viral pathogens occurs in processes such as spray irrigation of wastewater and operation of sewage treatment plants, and from humans and animals as a result of coughing, sneezing, breathing, especially in indoor air environments [1,2,3].
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