Testing of a new personal sampler for detection of viable viruses in aerosol state

Abstract

We present the results of tests of a new personal virus sampler. Viruses with different stability in the environment: influenza, measles, mumps, vaccinia, and SARS, were used for testing. It was shown that during sampling 80% of biological activity of influenza virus (labile virus) and only about 10% of activity of vaccinia virus (robust virus) was lost. Viruses in the sampler lost up to 1.5 logarithms of biological activity during sampling for 4 hours at room temperature. The potential of using the new personal sampler for detection of viable viruses in aerosol state was shown.