Geenen Caspar, Traets Steven, Gorissen Sarah, Happaerts Michiel, Beuselinck Kurt, Laenen Lies, Swinnen Jens, Ombelet Sien, Raymenants Joren, Keyaerts Els, André Emmanuel
KU Leuven, Dept. of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Laboratory of Clinical Microbiology, Herestraat 49, Leuven 3000, Belgium.
KU Leuven, Dept. of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Laboratory of Clinical Microbiology, Herestraat 49, Leuven 3000, Belgium.
EBioMedicine. 2025 Feb;112:105512. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2024.105512. Epub 2025 Jan 30.
Sampling the air in indoor congregate settings, where respiratory pathogens are ubiquitous, may constitute a valuable yet underutilised data source for community-wide surveillance of respiratory infections. However, there is a lack of research comparing air sampling and individual sampling of attendees. Therefore, it remains unclear how air sampling results should be interpreted for the purpose of surveillance.
In this prospective observational study, we compared the presence and concentration of several respiratory pathogens in the air with the number of attendees with infections and the pathogen load in their nasal mucus. Weekly for 22 consecutive weeks, we sampled the air in a single childcare setting in Belgium. Concurrently, we collected the paper tissues used to wipe the noses of 23 regular attendees: children aged zero to three and childcare workers. All samples were tested for 29 respiratory pathogens using PCR.
Air sampling sensitively detected most respiratory pathogens found in nasal mucus. Some pathogens (SARS-CoV-2, Pneumocystis jirovecii) were found repeatedly in the air, but rarely in nasal mucus, whilst the opposite was true for others (Human coronavirus NL63). All three pathogens with a clear outbreak pattern (Human coronavirus HKU-1, human parainfluenza virus 3 and 4) were found in the air one week before or concurrent with the first detection in paper tissue samples. The presence and concentration of pathogens in the air was best predicted by the pathogen load of the most infectious case. However, air pathogen concentrations also correlated with the number of attendees with infections. Detection and concentration in the air were associated with CO concentration, a marker of ventilation and occupancy.
Our results suggest that air sampling could provide sensitive, responsive epidemiological indicators for the surveillance of respiratory pathogens. Using air CO concentrations to normalise such signals emerges as a promising approach.
KU Leuven; DURABLE project, under the EU4Health Programme of the European Commission; Thermo Fisher Scientific.
在呼吸道病原体普遍存在的室内聚集场所进行空气采样，可能是社区范围内呼吸道感染监测的一个有价值但未得到充分利用的数据源。然而，目前缺乏对空气采样与参与者个体采样进行比较的研究。因此，对于监测目的而言，空气采样结果应如何解读仍不明确。
在这项前瞻性观察研究中，我们将空气中几种呼吸道病原体的存在情况和浓度与感染参与者的数量及其鼻腔黏液中的病原体载量进行了比较。在比利时的一个儿童保育场所，我们连续22周每周对空气进行采样。同时，我们收集了23名经常参与者（0至3岁儿童和儿童保育工作者）擦鼻用的纸巾。所有样本均使用聚合酶链反应（PCR）检测29种呼吸道病原体。
空气采样能灵敏地检测出鼻腔黏液中发现的大多数呼吸道病原体。一些病原体（严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2、耶氏肺孢子菌）在空气中反复被发现，但在鼻腔黏液中很少见，而其他病原体（人鼻病毒NL63）则相反。所有三种具有明显暴发模式的病原体（人冠状病毒HKU-1、人副流感病毒3型和4型）在纸巾样本首次检测到前一周或同时在空气中被发现。空气中病原体的存在和浓度最好由传染性最强病例的病原体载量来预测。然而，空气中病原体浓度也与感染参与者的数量相关。空气中的检测和浓度与一氧化碳（CO）浓度相关，CO浓度是通风和人员占用的一个指标。
我们的结果表明，空气采样可为呼吸道病原体监测提供灵敏、及时的流行病学指标。利用空气中的CO浓度对这些信号进行标准化是一种很有前景的方法。
鲁汶大学；欧盟委员会“健康4欧洲”计划下的“耐用”项目；赛默飞世尔科技公司。
