The Fate of Mengovirus on Fiberglass Filter of Air Handling Units

Abstract

One of the most important topics that occupy public health problems is the air quality. That is the reason why mechanical ventilation and air handling units (AHU) were imposed by the different governments in the collective or individual buildings. Many buildings create an artificial climate using heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems. Among the existing aerosols in the indoor air, we can distinguish the bioaerosol with biological nature such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Respiratory viral infections are a major public health issue because they are usually highly infective. We spend about 90% of our time in closed environments such as homes, workplaces, or transport. Some studies have shown that AHU contribute to the spread and transport of viral particles within buildings. The aim of this work is to study the characterization of viral bioaerosols in indoor environments and to understand the fate of mengovirus eukaryote RNA virus on glass fiber filter F7 used in AHU. In this study, a set-up close to reality of AHU system was used. The mengovirus aerosolized was characterized and measured with the electrical low pressure impact and the scanner mobility particle size and detected with RT-qPCR. The results about quantification and the level of infectivity of mengovirus on the filter and in the biosampler showed that mengovirus can pass through the filter and remain infectious upstream and downstream the system. Regarding the virus infectivity on the filter under a constant air flow, mengovirus was remained infectious during 10 h after aerosolization.

Adenovirus behavior in air handling unit fiberglass filters

“…The RH% increased to 80% after 3 min of aerosolization, reaching a maximum of 89% in 14 min. After 20 min, it decreased to 59% to achieve 52% after 25 min of aerosolization (Bandaly et al 2017).…”

“…The device is positioned under a laminar flow hood with clean and sterile air ( Fig. 1) (Bandaly et al 2017).…”

“…To monitor the number of generated particles and to determine the global setup performance at each of the Fig. 1 Description of the experimental setup (Bandaly et al 2017) four filter gates, a fluorescein (CAS no. 518-47-8, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany) solution was generated for 25 min by the medical nebulizer through the filter device, with or without a filter.…”

“…The absorbance (k = 470 nm) was measured in the sample from the BioSampler and the liquid extracted from the filters. According to Bandaly et al (2017), the setup has an efficiency of 76.3% (0.58 mg fluorescein collected from an initial solution of 0.76 mg aerosolized).…”

“…The review of Gerba (2013) revealed differences in inactivation between enveloped and nonenveloped respiratory viruses, with non-enveloped respiratory viruses surviving longer. The fate of mengovirus, a virus whose structure is close to rhinovirus, on the fiberglass filter of an AHU was studied by Bandaly et al (2017), who showed that the mengovirus passed through the filter and remained infectious for up to 10 h up-and downstream of the system.…”