Tang, J.W. and Li, Y. 2019. “The airborne microbiome – implications for aerosol transmission and infection control.” BMC Infectious Diseases 2019 19:755

Many infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, whooping cough, Aspergillus and other fungal infections, human and avian influenza, measles, chickenpox, and some of the emerging viruses, such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) can be potentially spread through aerosol transmission.

With the advent of deep-sequencing technologies these can be applied to environmental air samples using metagenomic techniques to characterise the presence and variety of airborne pathogens in the everyday air that we breathe in different environments (hospitals, clinics, homes, offices, entertainment venues, public transport – buses, trains, planes, etc.).

This series aims to explore and characterize the airborne microbiome in different environments, using different methods, in order to understand and assess the risk that such airborne pathogens may pose to both vulnerable and otherwise healthy individuals, and explore possible interventions to control their transmission.

https://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/airborne-microbiome

NOTES: from Special Issue ‘Airborne Microbiome’