Improved detection of airborne threats.

• Position: Pathogens

Current methods used to sniff out dangerous airborne pathogens wrongly may suggest that there is no threat to health when, in reality, there may be. However, researchers have found a better method for collecting and analyzing these germs that could give a more accurate assessment of their actual danger. For example, the findings may make it easier to detect airborne pathogens in low concentrations.

"Our results suggest that commonly used sampling methods detect only a small fraction of what is actually in the air," asserts Timothy Buckley, associate professor of public health at Ohio State University, Columbus. "And what they detect is often so damaged--due to the collection method--that the pathogens no longer possess the same infectious potential as they did while in the air." Such damage can make it nearly impossible for public health workers to determine if a pathogen is viable--that is, whether or not it has the potential to infect.

Buckley and his colleagues found that a relatively new device called the BioSampler--developed in the late 1990s by a team of researchers from the University of Cincinnati--caused the least amount of damage to the noninfectious microorganisms used in this study. Although it is not yet a commonly used method for detecting airborne pathogens, it gave Buckley and his team the most accurate reading of the degree of the microorganism's viability, its ability to...