SARS-CoV-2: a systematic review of indoor air sampling for virus detection

Abstract

In a post-pandemic scenario, indoor air monitoring may be required seeking to safeguard public health, and therefore well-defined methods, protocols, and equipment play an important role. Considering the COVID-19 pandemic, this manuscript presents a literature review on indoor air sampling methods to detect viruses, especially SARS-CoV-2. The review was conducted using the following online databases: Web of Science, Science Direct, and PubMed, and the Boolean operators “AND” and “OR” to combine the following keywords: air sampler, coronavirus, COVID-19, indoor, and SARS-CoV-2. This review included 25 published papers reporting sampling and detection methods for SARS-CoV-2 in indoor environments. Most of the papers focused on sampling and analysis of viruses in aerosols present in contaminated areas and potential transmission to adjacent areas. Negative results were found in 10 studies, while 15 papers showed positive results in at least one sample. Overall, papers report several sampling devices and methods for SARS-CoV-2 detection, using different approaches for distance, height from the floor, flow rates, and sampled air volumes. Regarding the efficacy of each mechanism as measured by the percentage of investigations with positive samples, the literature review indicates that solid impactors are more effective than liquid impactors, or filters, and the combination of various methods may be recommended. As a final remark, determining the sampling method is not a trivial task, as the samplers and the environment influence the presence and viability of viruses in the samples, and thus a case-by-case assessment is required for the selection of sampling systems.

A critical review of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems within the context of a global SARS-CoV-2 epidemic

“…Several scientific research works were reached 25 research papers to reveal the extent of the possibility of the SARS-CoV-2 being present in the air of indoor environments from a group of different samples to analyze the viruses stuck in them. The results of these research papers showed that 15 research papers reported the positive results of the COVID-19 in the air, while in the number of 10 research papers, results represented a negative effect of the COVID-19 in the air ( Borges et al, 2021 ). While through other review research works ( Rahmani et al, 2020 ) which totally agreed and assured that SARS-CoV 2 was present in some air samples that were collected from patient's rooms in hospitals.…”

“…Several attempts to research reviews of many studies to specifically determine the rate of airborne transmission of the COVID-19 and its spread behaviors between communities ( Borges et al, 2021 , Rahmani et al, 2020 , Aghalari et al, 2021 ). Several scientific research works were reached 25 research papers to reveal the extent of the possibility of the SARS-CoV-2 being present in the air of indoor environments from a group of different samples to analyze the viruses stuck in them.…”

Detection of SARS CoV-2 contamination in the Operating Room and Birthing Room Setting: Risks to attending health care workers

“…Detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in bioaerosols is recognized to be challenging, being highly dependent upon air flow, exchange rates and source of emissions (reviewed by Borges et al) and it is suggested that parallel sampling with more than one technique may increase sensitivity 56 . Thus, we employed two air sampling techniques, active air sampling used previously by two of our coauthors (finding 3/146 positive air samples taken from patient rooms) 42 and the passive technique similar to what is described by others for SARS-CoV-2 virus 34,35,40,43 .…”

Longitudinal Analysis of Built Environment and Aerosol Contamination Associated with Isolated COVID-19 Positive Individuals

“…Significant effort has gone into the identification of SARS-CoV-2 in a multitude of BE's 6,8,18,18,19,19,20,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] .…”