Airborne Influenza Virus Surveillance Platform Using Paper-Based Immunosensors and a Growth-Based Virus Aerosol Concentrator

The measurement of respiratory viruses in indoor air is critical for effectively preventing the spread of diseases. This is typically accomplished by counting the nucleic acids or plaques of air-sampled viruses. Herein, we present a growth-based airborne virus surveillance (G-AVS) platform based on paper-based electrochemical immunosensors for targeting hemagglutinin (HA) and nucleoprotein (NP), and water-condensation air sampling for the quantitative measurement of airborne influenza viruses. The measurements, compared with RT-qPCR, demonstrated consistency between the two. In the measurements of airborne influenza viruses conducted in an elementary school using G-AVS, 23% (4/17) of indoor air samples were positive, with concentrations ranging from 1.7 × 10⁴ to 1.6 × 10⁶ gene copies/m³, while losses in the HA relative to NP were 48-75% at a relative humidity of 27.0-36.8% and 60 min air sampling, similar to infectivities reported in the literature. This platform has the potential for rapid and cost-effective airborne virus measurement.