COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 21 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists suggest current methods of identifying dangerous airborne pathogens might wrongly suggest there is no threat when, in reality, there is.
Ohio State University researchers and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University have found commonly used sampling methods detect only a small fraction of what is actually in the air.
And what they detect is often so damaged due to the collection method that it is "nearly impossible to determine if a pathogen has the potential to infect," said OSU Associate Professor Timothy Buckley, the study's senior author.
"From a health standpoint, the current gold standard is to determine if a pathogen can be grown in the lab," said Johns Hopkins postdoctoral researcher Ana Rule, who led the study. "In reality, its viability may be a more accurate assessment of its potential threat to human health."
The research appears online in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
