Development of viral aerosol surveillance system based on virus specific marker

由于对检测炭疽热威胁的要求提高，在满足军事和民用在检测生物恐怖主义或公共卫生事件方面的需求方面，大多数努力都侧重于非病毒方法。然而，最近的事件，如全球SARS和禽流感爆发，很好地提醒人们，在生物检测方面存在知识差距。除了像PCR这样的特定但耗时的分析外，几乎没有通用的方法来评估空气中的病毒存在。拥有这种能力的重要性没有得到充分强调。了解正常空气中存在的物质可以作为预测和诊断应用的数据库。简而言之，能够测量和记录病毒活动的背景存在是了解真正威胁存在的前奏。

Due to heightened requirements for detecting anthrax threats, most efforts in meeting military and civilian needs regarding the detection of bioterrorism or public health events have been focused on non-viral methodologies. However, recent events like global SARS and avian flu outbreaks serve as good reminders that there are knowledge gaps in biological detection. Apart from specific but time consuming assays like PCR, there are few if any generic approaches to assess viral presence in air. The importance of having such capability has not been adequately emphasized. Knowing what is present in normal air can serve as database for predictive and diagnostic applications. Simply put, the ability to measure and document background presence of viral activity serves as a prelude to understanding the presence of a real threat.