Journal article
Quantification of airborne respiratory microflora provides insights into airborne infection risk
International journal of infectious diseases, Vol.164, pp.1-4
03/2026
PMID: 41565058
Appears in Recent Faculty of Health Publications
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Abstract
Objectives: To develop airborne respiratory microflora quantification as a method of quantifying airborne infection risk that is more readily applicable than airborne pathogen sampling, without being subject to the limitations and caveats of CO
monitoring.
Methods: Digital polymerase chain reaction targeting a mixture of Streptococcus and Haemophilus genera common to the respiratory tract was first tested under laboratory conditions and then tested on aerosol sampled from around a hospital in Sydney, with polymerase chain reaction quantification of SARS-CoV-2 genome copies also being carried out on the samples.
Results: Clear signals were obtained from every location within the hospital, with a significantly higher signal being observed in more densely crowded, less well-ventilated areas. When SARS-CoV-2 was present within the aerosol samples, the respiratory microflora signal correlated with the number of SARS-CoV-2 copies. Conclusions: Airborne respiratory microflora can be used as a marker for airborne infection risk. Using the value in conjunction with pathogen sampling provides in-depth insights into the relative infection risk of a space, and a clear marker which can be used to compare between different pathogen sampling studies.
Details
- Title
- Quantification of airborne respiratory microflora provides insights into airborne infection risk
- Creators
- Henry P. Oswin - Queensland University of TechnologyRaymond Tellier - McGill UniversityRobert Groth - Queensland University of TechnologyVille Silvonen - Tampere UniversityRowena Bull - University of New South Wales (Australia, Sydney)C. Raina MacIntyre - University of New South Wales (Australia, Sydney)Charitha de Silva - University of New South Wales (Australia, Sydney)Con Doolan - University of New South Wales (Australia, Sydney)Mohamed M.A. Mahmoud - University of New South Wales (Australia, Sydney)Damian Honeyman - University of New South Wales (Australia, Sydney)Ian Seppelt - The University of SydneyMarck Nicholls - University of New South Wales (Australia, Sydney)Stuart Turville - University of New South Wales (Australia, Sydney)Anupriya Aggarwal - University of New South Wales (Australia, Sydney)K. M.Ahsanul Kabir - University of New South Wales (Australia, Sydney)Adriana Notaras - University of New South Wales (Australia, Sydney)Donald Milton - University of Maryland, College ParkLidia Morawska - Queensland University of Technology
- Publication Details
- International journal of infectious diseases, Vol.164, pp.1-4
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- Grant note
- This paper was supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Industrial Transformation Training Centres (ITTC) “ARC Training Centre for Advanced Building Systems Against Airborne Infection Transmission” (IC220100012) and by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Laureate Fellowship “My air, my space, my health: the science of buildings that help us thrive” (FL220100082). We would also like to acknowledge the support of the National Health and Medical Research Council through the Medical Research Futures Fund COVID-19 Treatment Access and Public Health Activities Grant (MRFF) Grant ID 2017048.
- Identifiers
- 991013376550302368
- Copyright
- © 2026.
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Health
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article