Evaluation of a high-volume portable bioaerosol sampler in laboratory and field environments

An, Hey Reoun; Mainelis, Gediminas; Yao, Maosheng

doi:10.1111/j.1600-0668.2004.00257.x

Cited by 56 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Due to the lack of standardized equipment, analytical methods, and variable goals of the different studies, several different air sampling instruments and cultivation conditions have been used in the published studies. Thus, the comparison of the results is challenging since the various methodologies have been shown to provide different results even when subjected to the same bioaerosol challenge (3,42,64,76). The daytime concentration of airborne cultivable bacteria (ϳ400 CFU m Ϫ3 ) found at the subway station in Oslo was within the range of previous reports from Korea and Japan (34, 38, 62) but 10-to 100-fold lower than that found in China and Egypt (4,18).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 52%

Characterization of Airborne Bacteria at an Underground Subway Station

Dybwad

Granum

Bruheim

et al. 2012

Appl Environ Microbiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The reliable detection of airborne biological threat agents depends on several factors, including the performance criteria of the detector and its operational environment. One step in improving the detector's performance is to increase our knowledge of the biological aerosol background in potential operational environments. Subway stations are enclosed public environments, which may be regarded as potential targets for incidents involving biological threat agents. In this study, the airborne bacterial community at a subway station in Norway was characterized (concentration level, diversity, and virulence-and survival-associated properties). In addition, a SASS 3100 high-volume air sampler and a matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry-based isolate screening procedure was used for these studies. The daytime level of airborne bacteria at the station was higher than the nighttime and outdoor levels, and the relative bacterial spore number was higher in outdoor air than at the station. The bacterial content, particle concentration, and size distribution were stable within each environment throughout the study (May to September 2010). The majority of the airborne bacteria belonged to the genera Bacillus, Micrococcus, and Staphylococcus, but a total of 37 different genera were identified in the air. These results suggest that anthropogenic sources are major contributors to airborne bacteria at subway stations and that such airborne communities could harbor virulence-and survival-associated properties of potential relevance for biological detection and surveillance, as well as for public health. Our findings also contribute to the development of realistic testing and evaluation schemes for biological detection/surveillance systems by providing information that can be used to mimic real-life operational airborne environments in controlled aerosol test chambers.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 52%

Characterization of Airborne Bacteria at an Underground Subway Station

Dybwad

Granum

Bruheim

et al. 2012

Appl Environ Microbiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In general, a rapid and effective identification method for the airborne biological agents requires an efficient air-to-liquid sampling technique as discussed by other studies (Masquelier et al 2003;An et al 2004;Yao et al 2009). The AES sampler designed here is to concentrate bioaerosol sample into a small amount of liquids, which thus achieves high concentrate rate for detection of low quantities of biological agents in the environments.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of an Automated Electrostatic Sampler (AES) for Bioaerosol Detection

Tan

Shen

Yao

et al. 2011

Aerosol Science and Technology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this study, an automated bioaerosol collection and output system was developed using a new electrostatic sampling method. The electrostatic sampler was designed using a half-ball shape steel electrode (radius is 45 mm) with three aerosol inlets (radius is 3.5 mm) on the top and a copper plate electrode (6 and 16 mm in diameter) suited inside a circular plastic support. Above the plate electrode, a plastic cylindrical reservoir (14 mm in diameter and 1 mm in height) was built with liquid inlet and outlet made of copper (2 mm in diameter). These outlets are connected to a peristaltic pump for liquid delivery. Next to the reservoir, there are two aerosol outlets (radius is 2.5 mm) connected to a vacuum pump. The physical collection efficiencies of the system were investigated when collecting indoor particles using an optical particle counter under different experimental conditions. The system was also tested when sampling indoor and outdoor bacterial aerosols. Experimental data showed that the system could collect 70%-90% of indoor particles of 0.3-2 µm at a low sampling flow rate of 1.2 L/min when a 20 kV voltage and a particle charger (1.5 V) were applied. Increasing sampling flow rate was observed to lead to the decrease of the collection efficiency. When a particle charger was applied, use of larger plate electrode (16 mm in diameter) was shown to significantly improve the collection efficiency close to two times than that of 6 mm. When operated for sampling environmental bacterial aerosols, the system obtained a similar magnitude of bacterial aerosol concentration levels compared to a mixed cellulose ester (MCE) filter. The integration of the automated electrostatic sampler (AES) sampler developed here with a biosensor device could offer a promising platform for the automated bioaerosol sensing.

show abstract

“…Sampling methods for airborne particles can be subdivided into passive samplers using natural aerosol convection, diffusion or gravity, and active samplers using stationary or personal pumps [45]. Stationary sampling is the most widely used method for conducting microbial measurements in indoor environments.…”

Section: Molecular Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%