Addition of water molecules to airborne flu virus particles to create easily collected droplets.

What is it about?

It is technically difficult to collect airborne virus particles using common air samplers. Main reasons are the small sizes and masses of viruses result in inadequate momentum in moving airstreams that are pulled into active samplers; the viruses do not deviate from the airstream and pass into exhaust stream. One way to remedy this is by increasing the net diameter of airborne viruses by adding water molecules to their outsides. This can be done through condensation; when temperature is changed in the presence of saturating amounts of water, condensation occurs.

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Why is it important?

So far, it has not been easy to assess the biothreat posed by airborne viruses because it has been hard to detect them. Moreover, the air we breathe is full of viruses (from animals, plants, humans, animals, etc.) but not all the viruses are viable ('live') or are human pathogens. So mere detection does not provide adequate information regarding potential for biothreat through inhalation. Our process not only collects airborne viruses effectively, it maintains the viability of the viruses (which are often inactivated by other methods). If the collected viruses are human pathogens and shown to be viable, they are certainly a potential biothreat.

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