ABSTRACTThe aerosolization mechanisms of viruses are poorly known, because of the challenges related to their sampling and observation. For example, single particle studies are needed to improve our understanding of bioaerosol enrichment processes. Such studies would help to develop models of airborne disease propagation. We propose a novel approach to study viral aerosols in single particles using a combination of fluorescence and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This method allows for rapid analysis of labeled bacteriophages aerosolized and captured on a black membrane filter. It also requires performing image analyses on fluorescent spots. TEM is necessary to determine a single bacteriophage dimensions. Thus, the clustering of bacteriophage PP01 in a single aerosol particle was investigated and found to give a comparable number of virions to what was observed with TEM. The impact of the GFP (green fluorescent protein) in the head of PP01 virion compared to wild type (WT) PP01 was also tested by ...